ANACARDIACEL. 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 21 
A variety’ of Rhus copallina with white flowers occurs on rocky cliffs near New Braunfels in 
Texas.? 
Lhus copallina was one of the rare exotic trees cultivated by Bishop Compton ® in his garden at 
Fulham near London, to which it had probably been sent from Virginia by Bannister ;* and the first 
description of the species was drawn up from this cultivated plant and published by Ray in the Historia 
Plantarum ® in 1688. 
The foliage of Rhus copallina is more beautiful in summer and in autumn than that of the other 
North American Sumachs; and although it does not usually grow to the size of the Staghorn Sumach, 
or bear such conspicuous flowers and fruit, it is a beautiful and attractive plant, and especially useful 
when slopes of sterile gravel or rocky hillsides are to be clothed with shrubs. 
The specific name was given to it by Linnzus under the mistaken idea that this plant furnished 
the copal gum of commerce. 
1 Rhus copallina, var. leucantha, De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 68.— 
Gray, Jour. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. vi. 158 (Pl. Lindheim. ii.). —Sar- 
gent, Forest Trees N. Am. 10th Census U. S. ix. 53. — Coulter, 
Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. ii. 67 (Man. Pl. W. Texas). 
R. leucantha, Jacquin, Hort. Schoenb. iii. 50, t. 342. — Spach, Hist. 
Vég. ii. 215. 
2 Engler (De Candolle Monogr. Phaner. iv. 384) distinguishes 
the following forms : — 
Var. latifolia, with oblong or oblong-elliptical leaflets two and a 
half to three times as long as broad, the wings broad or narrow. 
Var. angustialata, with a wing scarcely one twenty-fourth of an 
inch broad (Cuba, Wright, No. 2290). (R. copallina, var. Grisebach, 
Cat. Pl. Cub. 67.) 
Var. latialata, with a wing from one twelfth to one sixth of an 
inch broad. 
Var. angustifolia, with lanceolate leaflets five to six times longer 
than broad. 
Var. integrifolia. 
Var. serrata. 
8 See i. 6. 
4 See i. 6. 
5 Rhus Virginianum Lentisci foliis, ii. 1799. 
Rhoi Obsoniorum similis Americana, Gummi candidum fundens, 
non serrata, foliorum rachi medio alata, Plukenet, Phyt. t. 56, f. 1; 
Alm. Bot. 318. 
Rhus foliis pinnatis, pedunculo communi membranaceo articulato, 
Royen, Fl. Leyd. Prodr. 244. — Linneus, Mat. Med. 50. 
Rhus elatior folis cum impari pinnatis, petiolis membranaceis articu- 
latis, foliolis minoribus nonnunquam non exacte oppositis: racemis 
atrorubentibus, Clayton, Fl. Virgin. 149. 
