130 PENTANDRIA. 



Canadensis.) The white flowers and black berries of our 

 Elder, are both considered as possessing some medicinal 

 properties. 



GENUS Rhus. Sumac. The name Rhus, comes from the 

 Celtic rhudd, signifying red, on account of the color of the 

 fruit. This is a pretty extensive genus, and is widely dissemi- 

 nated. Many of the species are natives of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, ten or twelve belong to North America, and others are 

 scattered in different countries. Most of the species are 

 shrubs from two to eight feet high, but some of them are 

 small trees, rising to fifteen or twenty feet. Our common 

 Sumac, (Rhus glabrum,} is well known from the large 

 bunches of red berries which it bears. These berries, with 

 a mordant, are employed to color black. Poison Sumac, 

 (Rhusvernix,) is also a common species in our swamps. This 

 grows twenty feet high. The wood and leaves are remarka- 

 bly smooth, and it appears among its neighbors, rather like a 

 stranger from the tropics, than a native plant. On some per- 

 sons, the effluvia of this tree exerts a poisonous influence. 

 The burning of a small stick, or touching the green wood, or 

 even passing by the growing tree, has, in many instances, oc- 

 casioned the most distressing eruptions on the skin, attended 

 with swelling of the face, and other painful symptoms. On 

 most persons, however, it has no such effect. The Rhus ver- 

 nix of Japan, is the tree that affords the true Japan varnish. 

 This consists merely in the milky juice of the plant, which 

 being spread on any kind of cabinet furniture, or other wood, 

 gives the surface a beautiful transparent and durable gloss. 

 Whether this tree is identical with ours, has been a matter of 

 dispute. 



GENUS Viburnum. This genus consists entirely of orna- 

 mental shrubs, of which the Guelder Rose, ( Viburnum opu- 

 lus,) and the Snowball tree, (Viburnum roscum,) are among 

 the most beautiful. The latter is merely a variety of the 

 former, and produces large white flowers in the form of balls, 

 resembling those of Hydrangea, and like them, these flowers 

 are abortive, that is they produce no fruit. In our woods we 

 have five or six species of this genus, most of which flower 

 in May and June. 



Whence does the genus Sambucus derive its name ? What is said of 

 tLe genus Rhus ? To what class and order do the guelder rose, or hy 

 drangea, and the snowball, belong 1 



