SHRUBS 481 



26. Stag-horn Sumach 



JR. typhina is a tall shrub, sometimes becoming a tree. The 

 ends of the irregular branches, covered with a soft, velvety 

 down, give the name stag-horn. Flowers, yellowish, with a 

 central orange-red disk, 5-parted calyx, 5-petalled corolla, 5 

 stamens, 3 styles, and 3 short purple stigmas. Fruit, a close 

 bunch of globular berries covered with crimson hairs. Stems, 

 yellowish. 



Leaflets, 11 to 31, sessile, feather-veined, lance-shaped, ser- 

 rate, pointed. 



27. Smooth Sumach 



R. glabra is our most common species, lining the roadsides 

 and covering barren fields, the foliage turning a rich dark 

 crimson color in fall. 



This shrub rarely reaches a height of 10 feet. Its pinnate 

 leaves are often i foot long, leaflets numbering 11 to 31, sharp- 

 ly toothed, the veins ending in the sinuses. Flowers in large, 

 close, compound, terminal clusters, forming a bunch of small 

 velvety, crimson-haired berries, of an acid, pleasant taste. 



28. Dwarf or Mountain Sumach 



R. copallma is a low shrub, from 3 to 5 feet high. This is 

 the most beautiful of the genus, owing to the bright, glossy, 

 dark green of the leaflets, on broadly winged petioles. Pyr- 

 amidal bunches of white flowers stand up from the ends of 

 the branches during the summer, followed by a bunch of 

 roundish red berries, gray dotted. Leaflets, 9 to 21, unequal 

 at base, generally entire. The bark of all members of this 

 family is highly charged with tannin ; hence is useful in tan- 

 ning leather. R. coriaria, a foreign species, is most used for 

 this purpose, and finds a market in Great Britain, being ex- 

 ported from Sicily and Italy. 

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