726 SPONDIACEAE 



Leaves with simple blades : ovary and drupe very oblique. 1. COTINUS. 

 Leaves with compound blades : ovary and drupe not oblique. 



Drupe somewhat elongated. 2. METOPIUM 

 Drupe broader than long. 



Drupe with a glabrous outer coat : stone ribbed. 3. RHUS. 



Drupe with a pubescent outer coat : stone smooth. 4. SCHMALTZIA. 



1. COTINUS Adans. 



Shrubs or trees, with a yellow wood. Leaves alternate : blades simple, entire or 

 slightly toothed. Flowers perfect, in large, loose, terminal panicles, whose divisions are 

 often plumose. Sepals 5, imbricated, persistent. Petals 5, longer than the calyx. Sta- 

 mens 5, inserted under the annular disk : filaments short, distinct : anthers shorter than the 

 filaments. Ovary very oblique, sessile, 1-celled : styles 3, lateral. Ovules pendulous from 

 a basal funicle. Drupe obliquely reniform, gibbous, the outer coat thin and veiny. Stone 

 horny. SMOKE TREE. 



1. Cotinus cotinoides (Nutt.) Britton. A shrub or small tree, sometimes 12 m. tall, 

 with spreading or drooping branches. Leaves numerous ; blades membranous, obovate or 

 oval, 4-16 cm. long, obtuse or notched at the apex, entire, undulate, usually acute at*the 



broad : sepals ovate : petals very thin, oblong-ovate, obtuse, crisped : stamens 5, included j 

 anthers as long as the subulate filaments : drupes obliquely oblong, 5 mm. long, prominently 

 veiny. [Rhus cotinoides Nutt. ] 



On rocky hills, Missouri to Tennessee, Alabama and Texas. Spring. 



2. METOPIUM P. Br. 



Trees, with poisonous juices and flaky bark. Leaves alternate, pinnately compound : 

 rachis almost terete ; leaflets with leathery entire petioluled blades reticulated beneath. 

 Flowers dioecious, in axillary open spreading panicles. Sepals 5, broad, imbricated. 

 Petals 5, about twice as long as the sepals, ascending, imbricated. Disk annular, often 

 slightly lobed. Stamens 5, shorter than the petals : filaments short, subulate : anthers 

 opening lengthwise. Ovary 1-celled, seated in the disk : style short : stigma 3-lobed. 

 Ovule solitary. Drupe somewhat elongated, glabrous, lustrous, apiculate : stone parch- 

 ment-like. POISONWOOD. CORAL SUMACH. DOCTOR GUM. 



1. Metopium Metopium ( L. ) Small. A tree sometimes 14 m. tall, abounding in a very 

 poisonous resinous sap, the trunk rarely 6 dm. thick. Leaf-blades petioled ; leaflets 3-7, 

 the blades ovate, 3-9 cm. long, commonly abruptly acuminate, but rather obtuse, entire, 

 obtuse or subcordate at the base, glabrate ; petioles 1-3 cm. long : panicles axillary, few- 

 flowered, 1-2 dm. long : pedicels stout, subtended by minute bracts : sepals 5, reniform or 

 nearly orbicular, scarious-margined : corolla about 5 mm. broad : petals 5, oblong or ovate, 

 nearly 3 mm. long, leathery, usually obtuse, conspicuously nerved : drupes oblong or oblong- 

 ovoid, 10-15 mm. long, orange or scarlet. [Rhus Metopium L.] 



In sandy soil, peninsular Florida and the Keys. Also in the Bahamas and the West India Islands- 

 Spring. 



3. RHUS L. 



Shrubs, trees or vines, with a caustic and often very poisonous resinous sap. Leaves 

 alternate, pinnately 3-several-foliolate : leaflets with entire or coarsely and irregularly 

 toothed blades. Flowers polygamous or dioecious, in lax axillary or lateral panicles. 

 Sepals 4-6, persistent. Petals 4-6, equal, imbricated. Disk annular. Stamens 4-6, or 10. 

 Ovary 1-celled. Ovules pendulous from a basal funicle. Drupe pale, glabrous, with a thin 

 outer coat which soon falls away from the wax-secreting sarcocarp which contains longi- 

 tudinal and somewhat reticulated strands which tend to persist about the ribbed stone. 

 POISON IVY. POISON OAK. 



A. Leaf-blades 3-foliolate : vines or low shrubs. 

 Vine, climbing by aerial rootlets. 



Drupes 5-6 mm. in diameter: sarcocarp with narrow irregular ridges. 1. R. radicans. 



Drupes 3-4 mm. in diameter : sarcocarp with broadly rounded ridges. 2. R. Florida/no. 



Upright shrubs. 



a. Leaflets with entire blades, glabrous. 3. R. Blodgdtii. 



