■ NAT. ORDER. — DUMOS^. 13 



vated in their extensive gardens previous to the year 1648, but is 

 still a scarce plant in that country. 



The genus to which this species belongs, comprehends seve- 

 ral species which are known to be extremely poisonous, especially 

 the Toxicodendron, Radicans, and Vernix ; but the Glahrum is per- 

 fectly innocent, and its berries are in most countries used for 

 culinary purposes. 



Its medicinal qualities are chiefly to be ascribed to its stypti- 

 city or astringency ; a property which it possesses in a sufficient 

 degree to render it useful in dyeing, and also in tanning of leather, 

 for which it was used in the time of Dioscorides. 



The berries, which are red and of a round compressed figure, 

 contain a pulpy matter, in which is lodged a brown hard oval seed, 

 manifesting a considerable degree of astringency. The pulp, even 

 when dry, is gratefully acid, and has been discovered to contain an 

 essential salt, similar to that of wood-sorrel, or perhaps more nearly 

 allied to chrystals of tartar. 



Bhus vcrnicifcra. Varnish-bearing Sumach, or Japan Varnish-tree. 

 This is a tree rising from twenty to forty feet in height ; leaves with 

 five or six pairs of leaflets, long, resembling those of the walnut ; 

 petioles naked, and are as well as the branchlets, clothed with down ; 

 leaflets elliptic, acute, quite entire, smoothish above, but velvety be- 

 neath from puljescence. Tlumberg affirms that the very best varnish 

 is prepared from this tree, which grows in gi-eat abundance in many 

 parts of that country ; and is likewise cultivated in many places on 

 accoimt of the great advantage derived from it. The varnish which 

 oozes out of the tree on being wounded, is procured from stems that 

 are three years old, and is received in some proper vessel. At first it 

 is of a lightish color and of the consister ce of cream, but grows thick- 

 er and black on being exposed to the air. It is so transparent when 

 laid ])ure and unmixed upon the boxes or furniture, that every vein 

 of the wood may be clearly seen. For the most part a dark ground 



