Rhus. ANACARDIACE/E. 219 



§ 3. Flowers diapcious or 'polygamous : disk glandular, deeply 5-lobed 

 (lobes opposite the petals) : drupe globose, villous : nut smooth, covipress- 

 ed: Jloioers in short aments, preceding the leaves. Leaves 3-falialuie. 

 — LOBADIUM, Raf. 



8. R. aromatica (Ait.) : leaves pubescent when younfr (at length coria- 

 ceous and often "rlabrous); leaflets sessile, rhomboid-ovate, unequally and in- 

 cisely toothed, the terminal one narrowed at the base. — Ait. Kew. {ed. 1.) 1. 

 p. 367 ; Turpin, in ann. mus. 5. p. 445. t. 30 ; Pnrsh, fl. 1. p. 205; Ell. sk. 

 1. p. 361 ; Hook. I. c. II. suaveolens, Ait. I. c. R. Canadense, Mar.s'h. ar- 

 hust.7 ; DC. I. c. p. 73. Lobadium aromaticum, Baf. in jour. phys. 89. 

 p. 98. Turpinia, Baf. in JDesr. jour. bot. 2. p. 170. Schmalzia, JJesv. I. c. 



In dry rocky places, from the 8askatchawan River (Hooker) to Georgia! 

 west to Arkansas ! April-May. — A small aromatic shrub. Flowers small, 

 yellow, on short pedicel^;, from axillary aments formed during the previous 

 summer. Drupes tlie size of a small i)ea, light red, more or less hispid, 

 slightly compressed, agreeably acid. This plant varies greatly in the degree 

 of pubescence of the leaves. R. suaveolens of Alton differs merely in the 

 leaves being almost glabrous, so that we have no hesitation in referring it to 

 the present species. 



-f^ ^- B.trilobata (Nutt. ! mss.) : "leaves glabrous, small; lateral leaflets 

 obovate, obtuse, 3-lobed at the apex or nearly entire ; terminal leaflet cunei- 

 form, 3-lobed at the summit, the middle lobe sometimes 3-toothed. 



" In the central chain of the Rocky Mountains. — A low leafy shrub ; the 

 leaves much smaller than in R. aromatica : terminal leaflet broad, i-1 inch 

 in length ; lateral ones smaller. Drupes scarlet, acid ; the nut flat, scarcely 

 striate." Nutt. 



I 



§ 4. " Flowers perfect \^or polygamous] : calyx subcampanulate : disk 

 fleshy, entire: stamens 5-10: styles united, very short: drupe globose, 

 with a thin and rather dry resinous aromatic pulp : nut orbicular, 

 compressed, even. Leaves simple, coriaceous, entire: flowers in panicu- 

 late racemes, terminal and in the axils of the upper leaves. — Malosma," 

 Nutt. 



10. B. laurina (Nutt.! mss.): " very glabrous ; leaves elliptical or elliptic- 

 ovate, obtuse or emarginate, often mucronate, on rather long petioles ; pani- 

 cles crowded ; stamens 5 ; filaments very short. 



"On bushy plains, near St. Barbara, California. — A low spreading tree or 

 large shrub, much branched and very leafy, exhaling to a considerable dis- 

 tance an aromatic odor, something like that of the Bitter Almond, (whence 

 the name, from /laXa vakU & oufioq, odor.) Leaves very pale, pinnately 

 but not prominently veined, about 2 inches Ion?, often slightly emarginate at 

 both ends: petioles more than i an inch in length. Flowers very small and 

 numerous. Calyx fleshy ; segments obtuse. Petals oblong, a little longer 

 than the calyx. Stigmas 3, minute. — To this subgenus, or rather perhaps, 

 genu5, belongs the LUthi of Fuillee, or Laurus caustica of Molina, the 

 Rhus ? caustica, i/ooA:. if- Am. bot. Beechey^svoy. p. 15. t. 7, a species which 

 differs from ours in its larger decandrous flowers, and much shorter petioles; 

 we are not informed whether the fruit of that species yields an aromatic 

 odor. Mauria, //. B. ^ K. also differs but little from the plants of this curious 

 section ; and both possess the venomous properties of Toxicodendron." Nutt. 

 — The R. ? caustica, Hook. ^ Arn. is described as dioecious; but the accom- 

 panying plate represents, among others, one apparently perfect flower. 



