154 ANACARDIACEAE 



RHUS COPALLINA Linnaeus 

 Shining Sumac 



The Shining Sumac, fig. 36, is an erect shrub generally 4 to 

 7 feet high, with densely short-pubescent branchlets and leaves 

 6 to 18 inches long on long petioles. Both the petiole and the 

 rachis are more or less pubescent, and the rachis is definitely 

 winged between the leaflets. There are, as a rule, 7 to 15 leaf- 

 lets per leaf. These are ovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 

 and usually \]4. inches to M/z inches long hy yi to \]/^ inches 

 wide. They are unequilateral at the base, and the lateral ones, 

 which are sometimes falcate, are sessile or nearly so, and some- 

 what smaller than the terminal leaflet. The leaflet blades are 

 acute to short- or long-acuminate and oblique and narrowed or 

 rounded at the base, with margins entire or with a few coarse 

 teeth. The leaf surface is smooth or nearly so above except on 

 the midvein, where it is densely pubescent, and it is more or 

 less pubescent beneath. 



The inflorescence is a terminal panicle 4 to 8 inches long, 

 which appears in flower in July and August. The flowers are 

 greenish yellow or sometimes pinkish, and the margins of the 

 petals are more or less glandular-ciliate. The fruit, which ma- 

 tures in September or October, is somewhat asymmetrically 

 spherical in shape, about Y^ inch in diameter, red, and densely 

 covered with hairs and short-stalked or sessile glands. The 

 smooth seeds are brown and quite small. 



Distribution. — The Shining Sumac, a shrub of dry, sandy 

 soil, prefers open places such as abandoned fields, borders of 

 woodlands, and fence rows. In such situations it grows from 

 New England westward to Michigan and south to Florida and 

 Texas. It ranges throughout the length and breadth of Illi- 

 nois but is not, of course, to be expected in purely prairie 

 regions. 



RHUS TYPHINA Linnaeus 



Staghorn Sumac 



The Staghorn Sumac, fig. 36, is an erect shrub, sometimes a 

 small tree, 5 to 18 feet tall, with densely velvety pubescent 

 branchlets, and compound leaves 8 to 24 inches long on long 

 petioles. The leaflets, of which there are 11 to 25 per leaf, are 



