THE r I STAC I AS. 41 



inflorescence. The sterile pedicels are altered into 

 reddish plumose hairs : these form the " wig," a thing 

 which cannot fail to attract the attention of any one 

 who walks a very short distance beyond the suburbs 

 of the town. When I first met this shrub out here, 

 I recognised it at once from the drawings of the 

 " wig " which I had seen in botanical text books at 

 home. 



The wood of the Sumach gives a rich yellow dye. 

 It is known in commerce under the absurd name of 

 " Young Fustic." You may keep it fifty years, it will 

 still be " young ;" in fact it is one of the few things 

 that never grow old. Tons of it are imported with 

 the currants from Greece. The rocky Ithaca, home 

 of Ulysses, furnishes a large quantity. Fustic is an 

 Arabic word. 



I have not seen the Poison Sumach (Rhus 

 toxicodendrori) on the Riviera. This North American 

 tree is so poisonous that erysipelas has been caused 

 by merely touching the leaves. Some people are 

 more susceptible than others to this poison. 



In almost every garden, and in the open places 

 of the town, is cultivated Rhus trifoliata, a graceful 

 tree of the same natural order, in habit not unlike 

 some of the Acacias ; in fact it is easily mistaken for 

 an Acacia. The evergreen leaves are palmate, with 

 three long linear leaflets. The flowers are yellowish 

 green, and insignificant. 



Even commoner is the so-called Pepper Tree 

 Schinus Molle, the " Molle " of the Chilians, Fig. 15), 

 with its drooping pinnate foliage and bunches of coral 

 fruits. It does not always thrive well in Nice. Frag- 

 ments of the leaf, floated on water, move about by jerks, 



