152 BLADDER-NUT FAMILY 



peduncled panicles, appearing with the leaves. Fruit whitish, 

 % in. broad. 



The Poison Oak may be either a low shrub or a high, 

 climbing vine. It readily adapts itself to local conditions, but 

 very fortunately it has not learned to endure the rigors of 

 the higher altitudes and is therefore confined to the lower 

 end of Yosemite Valley, and to the Hetch Hetchy and the 

 lower foothills. Recent investigations have shown that the 

 poisonous properties of the Poison Ivy, a closely related east- 

 ern species of Rhus, are due to a glucoside, which is carried 

 by a fixed oil, and there is no reason to suppose but that 

 our western plant is poisonous because of the same substance. 

 Since glucosides are easily decomposed by permanganate of 

 potassium, this chemical is coming into use as an antidote. 

 A two or three per cent solution, mixed with a little sodium 

 carbonate, is used as a wash with very beneficial results. Care 

 must of course be taken that the solution does not reach the 

 eyes. 



2. R. trilobata Nutt. Squaw Bush. Leaves compound; 

 leaflets 3, ovate or elliptic, narrowed to the base, tootfied or 

 divided, y 2 to V/ 2 in. long. Flowers yellowish, in close spikes 

 about z / 2 in. long, appearing before the leaves. Fruit scarlet, 

 sticky. 



Far from being poisonous, as is our other species of Rhus, 

 the Squaw Bush is of great service to the Indians, who util- 

 ize the split stems in basketry and who prepare a refreshing 

 beverage by soaking the berries in water. It is a low shrub, 

 never climbing, and is mostly restricted to the foothills, but 

 also grows on warm slopes in Yosemite Valley and near the 

 Mariposa Grove. 



STAPHYLEACEAE. Bladder-nut Family. 

 Shrubs with opposite pinnately compound leaves with stip- 

 ules. Stamens as many as the petals (5 in ours) and alternate 

 with them, borne outside a large disk. 



1. STAPHYLEA. Bladder-nut. 

 1. S. bolanderi Gray. California Bladder-nut. A loosely 

 branched glabrous shrub. Leaflets 3, ovate or roundish, 1 to 

 2 J / 2 in. long, finely toothed. Flowers whitish, in loose droop- 

 ing clusters, the stamens and styles J / 2 to ^ in. long, exceed- 

 ing the sepals and petals. Pods 1 or 2 in. long, bladdery- 

 inflated, each of the 3 cells with 1 to 4 globose seeds.— Dry 

 hillsides of the foothills, especially near El Portal; also 

 reported from Snow Creek. 



