306 



Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



How many colors can you find as you look at one shrub closely? 



2. Break a live winter twig of sumac. A milky sap oozes out. 

 Is this sap sticky like resin? Wet or dry, sumac branches make 

 the best of camp-fires. Why? 



3. Look carefully at the same twig. See how very hairy it is. 

 Notice the silky buds and the narrow, circular leaf-scar that nearly 

 surrounds each. Some day j^ou will find that the sumac hides its 

 leaves beneath the base of the leaf stem. 



Fig. 1. — Pumpkins and squashes in the school-room. 



Other Sumacs. 



Nearly all boys and girls know the staghorn sumac, but I doubt 

 whether you are familiar with some of its near relations. One or 

 two of these are poisonous. You ought to know the poisonous 

 forms that you may avoid them. Here is a brief description of the 

 different kinds in winter. 



The staghorn sumac is a large shrub with velvety-hairy branches. 

 The fruit or seed part is terminal, i. e., on the end of the branches, 

 and is composed of a dense cluster of red, hairy berries. Fig. 3 

 and 4 (1). 



Smooth sumac is often a large shrub but the branches are smooth. 

 The fruit is terminal like that of the staghorn sumac but does not 

 make such a stiff, dense cluster. Fig. 4 (4). 



