682 



RHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



RHUS. 



else will grow. They may be increased 

 by root cuttings, layers, and also by 

 seed. 



R. CANADENSIS (Fragrant Sumach). A 

 hardy shrub with trifoliate leaves, a native 

 of rocky woods in Canada and New Eng- 

 land, and through eastern America, 

 especially along the mountains. It has 

 pale yellow flowers in short dense clusters, 

 formed in autumn but flowering in spring 

 before the leaves appear. Very useful for 

 dry rocky banks, where it spreads prettily. 



The Venetian Sumach (Rhns cotinus). 



R. COPALLINA (Mountain Sumach). A 

 shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves of 

 smooth glossy texture, turning a fine 

 colour in autumn in its own country, as 

 they probably would in ours in full sun 

 in warm soil. New England, Canada, 

 and southward and westward. 



R. COTINOIDES (American Smoke Tree). 

 A small tree with oval leaves, and some- 

 what like our European kind, but really 

 better, with larger and thinner leaves, 

 taking also a fine colour in autumn, of a 

 beautiful scarlet, suffused with orange and 

 crimson. A native of Missouri, Indian 

 territory and eastwards. It should be 

 planted in dry, warm soil and sunny 

 positions. N. America, 



R. COTINUS (Venetian Sumach). A 

 beautiful and distinct shrub, long culti- 

 vated though not always well placed, the 

 simple leaves taking a fine colour in 

 autumn and the curious inflorescence 

 giving a very pretty effect. There is a 

 purple variety which is an improvement, 

 and a pendulous variety less important. 

 The Venetian Sumach looks very well as a 

 group in a sunny open situation. S. and 

 C. Europe and the East. 



R. GLABRA (Scarlet Sumach). A distinct 

 very hardy, bushy kind, with smooth 

 rather small leaves, thriving in any poor 

 dry soil, the leaves taking a very brilliant 

 colour in autumn. Var. laciniata is very 

 distinct, the leaflets longer and of much 

 greater breadth than in R. glabra itself, 

 but they are cut up into narrow pinnate 

 segments. When unfolding they remind 

 one of a finely-cut umbelliferous plant in 

 spring ; when fully grown the midribs are 

 red ; and in autumn the leaves glow off 

 into a bright colour after the fashion of 

 American shrubs. The wild plant is much 

 rarer in cultivation than the cut-leaved 

 variety. 



R. OSBECKII. A fine kind from China 

 and Japan, with pinnate leaves much finer 

 than the others, striking foliage, also 

 turning in good seasons and warm soils a 

 good orange colour in autumn. This is 

 one of the kinds that might be cut down 

 annually where plentiful, so as to get the 

 fine effect of the foliage on the young 

 vigorous stems. 



R. RADICANS (Poison Ivy). A distinct 

 woody climber very common in the N. 

 American hedgerows and copses and also 

 up trees. Its leaves give it somewhat the 

 character of a Virginian Creeper, and some 

 unsuspecting nurserymen sent it out with 

 a new name as Ampelopsis Hoggi, under 

 which it has been distributed in many 

 gardens. It is a most poisonous plant 

 in its own country and also in ours, 

 accidents taking place from it in gardens, 

 and the cause of the illness is not always 

 known. If kept at all in the garden, it 

 should be in rough places where it would 

 not have to be handled or pruned. Syn. 

 R. toxicodendron. 



R. TYPHINA (Stag's Horn Sumach). In 

 its own country often a small tree or 

 shrub, in ours generally a loose shrub 

 common in gardens. The leaves (and 

 stems) are densely covered with long soft 

 hairs, and often take a fine colour in 

 autumn, which is increased by the 

 persistent crimson seed-clusters. It is a 

 native of sandy or rocky soil from Nova 

 Scotia and Canada southwards. There is 

 a lace-leaved form of this species also, 

 in which the segments are very fine. 



R. VERNICIFERA. The famous Lacquer 

 Tree of Japan, and a graceful shrub in the 

 milder parts of Britain, but it is said to 

 be very poisonous, 



