Rhus venenata, 



THE POISONOUS RHUS. 



Synonymes. 



Rhus venenata, 



' De Candolle, Prodromus. 

 Hooker, Flora Borcali Americana. 

 Don, Miller's Dictionary. 

 LotJDON, Arboretum Bntannicum. 

 ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 

 BiGELow, Medical Botany. 

 France. 

 Germanv. 

 Italy. 



Britain and Anglo-Ajierica. 



Ehus vernix, 

 Sumac venencux, 

 Giftiger Sumach, 

 Albero del veleno, 



Poison Sumach, Swamp Sumach, Poison 

 Elder, Poison- wood, 



Derivation. The specific name, venenata, is derived from the Latin venenum, poison, on account of the poisonous naiort 

 of iliis shrub to mosi persons. 

 Engravings. Bigelow, Medical BoUny, i., pi. 19 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., figure 226 1 and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Leaf rather glabrous than pubescent, of 5 6 pairs of leaflets, and the odd one, which 

 are ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, and beneath reticulately veined. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



HE Rhus venenata, in its 

 * natural habitat, is a de- 

 ciduous shrub, or low 



^ tree, growing to a height 



of ten to twenty feet; but when cultivated on 

 more elevated grounds, it does not attain so great 

 an elevation. The leaves are divided like those 

 of the Rhus typhina, but differ in being smooth 

 and shining; the leaflets are very entire, nar- 

 row, and pointed, with purplish-red veins; and 

 in autumn they change to an intense red, or pur- 

 ple. The flowers, which appear in May, June, 

 and July, are mostly dicecious, small, and of a 

 greenish colour. The drupes are whitish, and 

 about the size of peas ; and the nuts are rather 

 broader than long, compressed and furrowed. 



Geography and History. The Rhus venenata 

 is indigenous to North America, and may be 

 found in swamps, and moist, shady situations, 

 from Canada to Louisiana. It was introduced into Britain in 1713, and is culti- 

 vated in several of the European collections. 



Properties., Uses, S^c. Every part of this shrub, even when reduced to charcoal, 

 is in a high degree poisonous to most persons, either by touching or smelling any 

 part of it. It operates somewhat differently upon different constitutions; and 

 some, it is said, are incapable of being poisoned by it at all. This may be true 

 under some circumstances, but is liable to fail under others. A few years since, 

 in a hot day in the month of August, while prosecuting a public survey, we 

 directed a number of men to cut a pathway through a swamp, densely filled with 

 this poisonous plant. As most of us had never suffered any inconvenience from 



