CHAP. XXXVIII. ANACARDIA‘CER. RHU'S, 553 
Engravings. Dill. Elth., t. 292. ; Wats. Dend. Brit., t.19.'; Big. Med. Bot.,1. t. 19.; and our fig. 226 
Spec. Char., $c. Leaf rather glabrous than pubescent, of 5—6 pairs of leaflets, 
and the odd one, which are ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, and beneath 
reticulately veined. (Dec. Prod.,ii. p.68.) A native of North America, 
from Canada to Carolina, and commonly called there poison sumach, or 
poison wood. The drupe is white, and the nut furrowed. (Ibid.) 
Description, §c. In its native-country, this species is a shrub or low tree, 
growing to the height of 20 ft. ; but it does not grow so vigorously in British 
gardens, probably from not being sufficiently attended to in regard to soil, 
which ought to be kept very moist, as the name swamp sumach implies. The 
leaves are divided like those of R. typhina and R&R, glabra; but they are 
quite different from those of both kinds in being smooth, shining, and having 
the leaflets very entire, narrow, and pointed, and the veins of a purplish red 
colour. There isa plant in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, 
which, in 1834, was 4 ft. high, after being 5 years planted. There are also 
plants of the same species in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges. The leaves 
die off of an intense red or purple; and are, in the autumn season, strikingly 
beautiful. This species is a native of 
swamps in Virginia, Carolina, Pennsyl- 
vania, and New England; and it is also 
said to be a native of Japan. 
The milky juice stains linen a dark brown. 
The whole shrub is in a high degree 
poisonous ; and the poison is communi- 
cated by touching or smelling ‘any part of 
it. In forty-eight hours, inflammation ap- 
pears on the skin, in large blotches, prin- 
cipally on the extremities, and on the 
glandulous parts of the body: soon after, 
small pustules rise in the inflamed parts, 
and fill with watery matter, attended with 
burning and itching, In two or three 
days, the eruptions suppurate; after which 
the inflammation subsides. Some persons 
are incapable of being poisoned with this 
plant; but those who are of unstable habits 
are more likely to receive it. According to Kalm, an incision being made, 
a whitish yellow juice, which has a nauseous smell, comes out between 
the bark and the wood: it is noxious to some persons, but does not in 
the least affect others. On Kalm himself it had no effect, except once, on 
a hot day, when, being in some perspiration, he cut a branch, and carried it 
in his hand for half an hour, smelling it now andthen. It produced a violent 
itching in his eyelids and the parts thereabouts, During a week, his eyes were 
very red, and the eyelids very stiff, but the disorder went off by washing the 
parts in very cold water. (Mart. Mill.) In British gardens, this species is not 
very common ; but it well deserves culture, on account of the beauty of its 
smooth shining foliage at all seasons, and of its almost unparalleled splendour 
in the autumn, from the time that the leaves begin to change colour, till they 
ultimately drop off with the first frost. We would recommend that the plant 
should always have a label attached to it, indicating the poisonous qualities of 
the leaves, even when touched or smelled to. Plants, in the London nur- 
series, are Is. 6d. each, seeds 2s. an ounce; at Bollwyller, 1 franc and 50 
cents a plant; and at New York, 50 cents a plant. 

2% 8. R. Corta‘ria Lin. The hide-tanning Rhus, or the Elm-leaved Sumach. 
Identification. Lin. Spec., 379.; Dec. Prod., 2. p.67.; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 70. 
Derivation. The specific name of Coriaria was given to this plant from the use made of it by the 
Turks in tanning leather; and it was also a name of the #hus among the Romans, from the 
same quali’y. 
