144 



FL 1 VERIXG SHR UBS. 



This wicked little plant is not without its attractions to the eye ; it 

 varies in height from about one foot to two, but will climb when meeting 

 with support to ten and fifteen. 



I have seen it against a stone building, growing along with the 

 Virginian Creeper, up to the windows of a lofty second story building, 

 no one having discovered the noxious intruder, though very different in 

 foliage from the Creeper. The leaves are three-foliate, thin, of a dull 

 palish green, smooth, but not glossy. The leaflets are broad at the base, 

 indented, hardly deep enough to be called lobed, in some instances only 

 a little waved at the margins, pointed, thickened at the junction of the 

 stem. One of the leaflets is generally larger and more lozenge-shaped 

 than the other two, but they vary a good deal in size and form. Some- 

 times there is a winged lobe on the larger and outer one. Towards 

 evening the leaves droop downwards, exposing less of the surface to the 

 . air and night dews. 



The plant spreads by means of the roots, which send up shoots 

 from beneath the surface ; the stem of the plant is woody, thickening at 

 the joints of the leaf-stalks. The flowers appear near the tops of the 

 shoots in Uttle upright panicles ; they are of a pale greenish-white ; the 

 berries ripen in August and are of a dead white, yellow, or dun-coloured. 

 About the time of the ripening of the berries the leaves begin to droop 

 earthward and turn to beautiful tints of orange, varying to brilliant 

 scarlet, which, with the white fruit, has a pretty effect. 



The Rhus contains a black dye which is indelible, and which no 

 washing will remove. It is a pity that it cannot be utilized. Professor 

 John Lindley says: "An indelible black dye is produced by the juice 

 extracted from the plant," and adds, " This appears to be a property in 

 common with many plants of this order. The Stagmaria ver}iidflua 

 furnishes the black lac which is used as a varnish in Japan. The resin 

 produced by this tree causes excoriations and blisters on the skin. 

 The Cashew-nut is another member of the order, all which are more or 

 less remarkable as dye woods, or for some medicinal uses, or acridly 

 poisonous." 



Stac-horn Sumac — RJius typ/iiiia, (L.) 



Though belonging to a very poisonous order of plants, our common 

 native Sumac is more noted for its useful than its hurtful qualities. 

 Both the common Dwarf Sumac, R. glabra and R. typ/iiiia, are to be 

 found all through Western Canada, in groves, and on old, neglected 

 clearings, on rocky islets, and by roadsides, the seeds being largely sown 

 by the birds that feed upon the berries. 



^Tliig is the variety radicanH. 



