1881.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 125 



KHUS COTINOIDES, Nutt. 

 BY S. B. BUCKLEY, PH. D. 



This sumac was discovered by Nuttall, in the autumn of 1819, 

 on the Grand, a large tributary of the Arkansas River, and within 

 the limits of the present Indian Territory. It was on high broken 

 rocky banks at a place tlien known as tlie "Eagle's Nest.'' It 

 grew there only as a shrub, and was not again found by Nuttall. 

 He gives a description of it, with a plate, at p. 71, vol. ii, of his 

 addition to Michaux's " North American Sylva." He there calls 

 it Cohnus Americana. Nuttall's specimens were in fruit only. 



I found this same Ehus on the 6th of April, 1842, in descending 

 from the table lands of North Alabama to the Tennessee River, 

 on the Huntsville road. Here were large shrubs of it growing 

 in clumps from 8 to 10 feet high. They were in fruit and 

 strikingly beautiful. I collected many specimens of them 



Soon after, I came to the river and staid all night at a Mr. 

 Chun's. Next morning, I crossed at " Ditto's Landing," and 

 went on the Madison turnpike to Huntsville, nine miles distant. 

 After dinner, I went twelve miles from Huntsville to a Mr. 

 Bailee's, in Madison County, Alabama, on the road to Winchester, 

 Tennessee, via Salem. From Mr. Bailee's house I walked up to 

 the top of a low mountain to get specimens. Near its base and 

 on its sides, in wooded ravines, I saw several trees of R. cotinoides 

 in flower, and with larger leaves than those seen before south of 

 the Tennessee River. These trees were about 38 feet high and 

 from 8 to 12 inches in diameter, with trunks and larger limbs 

 coated with light gray and deeply-furrowed bark resembling the 

 bark of the larger trees of the common sassafras {S. officinale). 



I climbed a tree to obtain specimens. The branches were 

 brittle, and when broken emitted a yellowish sap, the odor of 

 which was highly aromatic ; to me very unpleasant. 

 . This sumac, when in fruit, resembles the common Venetian sumac 

 {Rhus cotinus), as is indicated by its specific name. It must be 

 very local in its habitats, and also very rare. I think it has not 

 been found elsewhere than in the Indian Territory and North 

 Alabama. 



In Chapman's " Flora of the Southern States," p. 10, it is stated 

 that I found it in the interior of Alabama. Dr. Chapman was led 

 into this error from our correspondence and exchange of plants 

 when I was living in Wilcox County, Alabama. 



