Flowers of Summer 



that has more especially distinguished itself this 

 summer, I should pick out the Rhus cotinus. It 

 is one of the Sumach trees, and is known as the 

 Venice or Varnish Sumach, and is found in many 

 parts of Southern Europe, and may be seen in 

 great abundance on some of the hills round the 

 Italian lakes. Pliny says it is found on the 

 Apennines, and is used for wood inlaying ; and it 

 is from him that we have got the two Latin 

 names, while Sumach is from the Arabic. The 

 great beauty of the tree is in its flowering, if, 

 indeed, that can be called flowering where there 

 are no true flowers. The whole shrub is covered 

 with large panicles of abortive flowering stems, in 

 which the true flowers are entirely absent, and 

 nothing remains but the stems. Yet those 

 bundles of flower stems form the most beautiful 

 vegetable feathers, resembling marabout feathers. 

 It is from this wig-like appearance of the tree 

 that it has its French name of Arbre de perruque, 

 and its English name of Smoke Tree. There are 

 two varieties : in the wild form, and in the form 

 usually seen in gardens, the panicles are a dull 

 whitish green, but the far more beautiful form has 

 the panicles a rich rose colour, and this variety is, 

 I think, the most beautiful of shrubs, and as it 

 keeps its beauty for several weeks it is a shrub 

 that all ought to grow. Whoever does grow the 

 shrub should make a point of carefully studying 

 its structure ; and he or she will find much 

 interest in it, and will thank me for drawing 



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