392 RHUS 



scarlet, claret colour, and orange before they fall. Disappointment has some- 

 times been caused by the failure of this shrub to colour as described, but this 

 is nearly always due, so far as I have seen, to over-generous conditions at the 

 root. In order to bring out its best colour, it should not be grown in rich or 

 manured soil, which renders the growth too rank and coarse. In a wild state 

 it is said to be in danger of extinction ; many large specimens have been cut 

 down for the dye obtained from the wood, especially during the Civil War in 

 N. America. 



R. COTINUS, Linnczus. VENETIAN SUMACJI. 



(Cotinus Coggyria, Scopoti.} 



A deciduous shrub, up to 12 ft. high, of round, bushy habit, and often 

 considerably wider than it is high ; the branchlets smooth. Leaves simple, 

 smooth, orbicular or obovate, rounded or slightly notched at the apex ; \\ to 



3 ins. long, with well-marked parallel veins and a stalk about half the length 

 of the blade. Panicles loose, terminal, much-branched, many of the thread- 

 like, final ramifications bearing no flower but developing a large number of 

 silky hairs. During July the whole inflorescence (6 to 8 or more inches long 

 and wide) turns a pale flesh colour, afterwards a smoky grey. Flowers few 

 and small ; fruit dry, prominently veined, one-seeded, in. across. 



Native of Middle and S. Europe, extending eastwards to the Himalaya. 

 In the late summer few hardy shrubs are more striking and beautiful than 

 this. It produces its inflorescences so abundantly that the entire plant 

 becomes covered with a filmy pinkish envelope. The leaves remain long on 

 the plant, and turn yellow before they fall. The wood, too, is yellowish, and 

 a good yellow dye is obtained from the twigs. Several popular names have 

 been given to it besides the one quoted above, such as " smoke plant," " burning 

 bush," and "wig-tree," all in allusion to the characteristic inflorescence. 

 This shrub, like its American ally, does not require a very rich soil, as it then 

 grows too much and gives little flower. The two following varieties are in 

 cultivation : 



Var. ATROPURPUREA. Leaves, young wood, and inflorescences purple. 



Var. PENDULA. Branches drooping. 



A downy form PUBESCENS, Engler is also known, but I have not seen 

 it in cultivation. 



R. GLABRA. Linnceus. SMOOTH SUMACH. 



A deciduous shrub, usually from 4 to 6 (rarely 10) ft. high, with smooth 

 leaves and branches. Leaves pinnate, about 12 to'iS ins. long, composed 

 usually of from fifteen to twenty-five leaflets, which are oblong-lanceolate, 

 shallowly to rather deeply toothed ; 2 to 4 ins. long, to f in. wide, glaucous 

 beneath. Flowers unisexual, closely packed in a dense pyramidal panicle 



4 to 10 ins. long, the stalks covered with red down. Fruit the size of large 

 shot, packed like the flowers in a dense panicle, and covered with soft crimson 

 hairs. They remain long on the plant after the leaves have fallen. 



Native of the eastern United States, where in some parts it is almost a 

 weed. It is nearly allied to R. typhina, and is very similar in its handsome 

 fruit, but differs in the smooth young wood and leaves, and its purely shrubby 

 habit. The foliage turns a bright, rich red. Flowers in July and August. 



Var. LACINIATA. One of the handsomest of hardy foliage plants, the 

 leaflets being deeply cut so as to make the leaf almost or quite doubly pinnate. 

 Its greatest beauty is obtained by cutting it hard back every spring, and 

 thinning down the young shoots to one or two, thus obtaining broad feathery 

 leaves 3 ft. long, very striking in their autumn colour. 



