CHAP. XXXVIII. ANACARDIACEX. RHU’'S. 549 
small tree, the rind of which was used for tanning, and the fruit as a spice (Theophrast. H. Pi., 3. 
18.) ; supposed to be some variety of the Rhus Cétinus.” And others derive Rhtsfrom the Greek 
verb rkeo, I run, from the habit of the roots running and spreading under ground toa considerable 
distance from the tree. Sumach is derived from Szaq, the Arabic name of the plant. 
Gen. Char, Sexes hermaphrodite, dicecious, or polygamous. Calya small, 
5-parted, persistent. Petals ovate, and inserted into a calycine disk, 
or into the calyx. Stamens 5, inserted into a calycine disk; all of them 
in the flowers of the male and hermaphrodite sexes bearing anthers. 
Ovary single, perhaps from defect, subglobular, of 1 cell. Styles 3, short, 
or not any. Sé#gmas3. Fruit an almost dry drupe of 1 cell, with a bony 
nut, which includes a single seed; and, in some instances, 2—3 seeds : when 
one, perhaps, by defect. Each seed is pendulous by a thread (the raphe), 
that arises from the bottom of the cell. Cotyledons leafy, their edges, on one 
side, and the radicle, in contact. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 66., and Wats. Dend.) 
—Deciduous shrubs, generally with alternate compound leaves; natives of 
Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The leaves vary much, both 
in form and magnitude; and they generally die off, in autumn, of a dark 
red, or a bright scarlet, or yellow; on which account, at that season, they 
are very ornamental. Most of the species are poisonous, some of them 
highly so; and they all may be used in tanning, and dyeing yellow or 
black. They are all easily propagated by cuttings of the root, and some of 
them by cuttings of the branches. 
§ i. Cétinus Tourn. 
Sect. Char. Leaves undivided. Flowers hermaphrodite. 
% 1. R. Co’tinus L. The Cotinus Rhus, or Venetian Sumach. 
Identification. Lin. Spec., 383. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 67.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 69. 
Synonymes. Cétinus Cogg¥gria Scop. Carn., ed. 2. No. 368.; Maench Meth.; 73.; Cétinus coridcea 
Duh. Arb., 1, t. 78-; Venus Sumach, Venice Sumach, wild Olive; Sumach Fustet, or Arbre aux 
Péruques, Fy.; Periicken Sumach, Ger. ; Scotino, Ital. 
Derivation. The term Cétinus is derived from cotinos, a name under which Pliny? speaks of a tree 
9, 
with red wood, which is supposed to grow in the Apennines. (Don’s Mili., 2. p. 69.) 
Engravings. Jacq. Aust., t. 210. ; Mill. Icon., t. 270.; Lob. Icon., t. 99. ; Duh. Arb., t. 178.; and our 
Sig. 223. 
Spec. Char., §c. eaves obovate. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 67.) 
A native of sunny places in the south of Europe and 
Asia, from Spain to Caucasus. The flowers are disposed 
in loose panicles, and have the sexes hermaphrodite. 
The drupe is half-heart-shaped, smooth, and veiny; its 
nut is triangular. Many of the flowers are abortive, and 
their pedicels, after the flowering, lengthen, and become 
hairy. (Jdid.) 
Description, §c. The Rhis Cotinus, though seldom 
found higher than 5 ft. or 6 ft. in a wild state, yet grows to 
double that height in gardens, where it forms a highly or- 
namental shrub, more especially when covered with its 
large loose panicles of elongated hairy pedicels, very few 
of which produce fruit. It is easily known from all the 
other species by its simple, obovate, smooth, stiff, lucid, - 
green leaves, rounded at the points, and supported by long 
tootstalks, which remain on till they are killed by frost, so 
that the plant is almost a sub-evergreen. The flowers are 
produced at the ends of the branches, and are of a pale 
purplish or flesh colour. Each flower is composed of 5 
small oval petals, which spread open, but are seldom succeeded by seeds 
in England. In Greece, and in the south of Russia, the whole plant is used 
for tanning, and for dyeing leather, wool, and silk yellow. In Italy, about 
Venice, it is used for dyeing black, and is called by the Italians scotino, from . 
skotios, dark. Sir James Edward Smith found it cultivated under this name 
for tanning, on a little hill at the back of the inn at Valcimaca, between Rome 
and Bologna. (Corresp., i.p. 325.) The plant appears to have been known to 
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