ANACARDIACE^E. 71 



Woods. Can. to Flor. W. to Miss. May July. \i. Stem 23 feet high. 

 Leaves on petioles, sometimes slightly cordate at base. Flowers small, white, in 

 an oblong terminal thyrse. Root very large, dark red. The leaves were used 

 as a substitute for tea during the American Revolution. A variable plant. C. 

 herbaceus Raf. is a variety with oval nearly smooth leaves. 



New Jersey Tea, Red Root. 



2. C. ovalis Dig. : leaves narrow, oblong, or elliptic-lanceolate, 3-nerved 

 from the base, serrulate, nearly smooth ; thyrse umbel-like, the pedicele 

 elongated and closely approximate. H. intermedius Hook, not of Pursh. 



Rocky places. Can. Maine, Ver. and Northern N. Y. W. to Mich, and Texas. 

 May, June. T^ Stem 23 feet high. Leaves 1 3 inches long. Fruit black. 

 Easily distinguished by its narrow leaves and short thyrse from C. Americanus. 



Narrow-leaved Ceanothus. 



ORDER XXXVI. ANACARDIACE^E. ANACARDS. 



Flowers usually diclinous. Galyx usually small, persistent, 

 5- (sometimes 3 7) divided. Petals as many as the segments 

 of the calyx, perigynous, imbricate. Stamens as many as the 

 petals, and alternate, or twice as many or more ; filaments dis- 

 tinct or cohering at the base. Disk fleshy, hypogynous. Ovary 

 single (or rarely 5 6 ;) stigmas usually 3. Fruit indehiscent, 

 usually drupaceous. Seed without albumen. Trees or shrubs, 

 with a resinous, gummy, caustic, or milky juice. Leaves alter- 

 nate, simple, ternate or pinnate, not dotted. 



RHUS. Linn. Sumach. 



(From the Celtic rhudd, red ; in allusion to the color of the fruit) 

 Calyx small, 5-parted, persistent. Petals 5, ovate, spreading. 

 Stamens 5, equal, inserted into the disk. Styles 3, short. 

 Drupe nearly dry, with one bony seed. 

 * Leaves ternate. 



1. R. Toxicodendron Linn. : stem erect, pubescent near the summit ; leaves 

 ternate; leafets broad-oval or rhomboid, entire, sinuate or lobed, subpubes- 

 cent beneath ; flowers direcious, in sessile axillary racemes. R. Toxico- 

 dendron, var. quercifolium Mich. 



Moist woods. Can. to Car. W. to Rocky Mountains. June. >. Stem 

 2 3 feet high. Flowers yellowish-green. Fruit globose, brown, smooth. 



Poison Oak or Ivy. 



2. R. radicans Linn. : stem climbing ; leaves ternate ; leafets petiolate, 

 ovate, acuminate, smooth, generally entire ; flowers in axillary racemes, 

 towards the top of the stem, dioecious ; fruit smooth. JR. Toxicodendron, 

 var. vulgare Mich. Pursh. R. Toxicodendron var. radicans Torr. 



Woods and hedges. Can. to Car. June. 17. Stem climbing. Flowers yel- 

 lowish-green. Fruit subglobose, brown. De Candolle thinks R, radicans distinct 

 from R. Toxicodendron, although they are considered identical by Torrey and 

 Gray. Both are very poisonous to persons of peculiar constitutions. Christy, in 

 N. Y. Med. 4- Phys. Jour, N. S. i. 21. Climbing Poison Oak. 



