394 RHUS 



buds brown, velvety. Leaves pinnate, varying in size according to the vigour 

 of the plant, ordinarily from 8 to 15 ins. long, and composed of seven to 

 thirteen leaflets, between each pair of which the common leaf-stalk is winged. 

 Leaflets stalkless, oval, usually i\ to 4 (occasionally 6) ins. long, and about 

 half as wide ; pointed, the margins conspicuously round- or sharply toothed, 

 the under-surface covered with velvety down. Flowers in a large, terminal 

 panicle 8 or 10 ins. long and wide, yellowish white, produced in August. 

 Fruit small, orange-coloured. 



Native of China and Japan. This handsome tree is well-marked by its 

 winged leaf-stalks, the only other hardy species so distinguished being the 

 American R.~ copallina, which has smaller, entire leaflets. In a broad sense 

 R. Osbeckii may be regarded as the hardiest form of R. semialata, a species 

 widely spread in N. Asia, As a flowering plant it is one of the handsomest 

 of the sumachs, although it does not bloom so freely here as on the Continent. 

 It may be cut down annually like R. glabra var. laciniata (q.v.). In some 

 places, as at Monreith with Sir H. Maxwell, it colours brilliantly in autumn. 



R. ToxiCODENDRON, Linnczus. POISON IVY. 



A deciduous shrub, either climbing or loosely spreading in habit, the 

 climbing form attaching itself to rocks, walls, trunks of trees, etc., by means 

 of aerial roots like those of the ivy, and frequently reaching to a considerable 

 height ; the bushy form up to 8 or 9 ft. high. Leaves always composed of 

 three leaflets, the side ones very shortly stalked, the end one with a stalk 

 \ to i \ ins. long, the common leaf-stalk 2 to 4 ins. long. Leaflets very vari- 

 able in size, shape, and toothing, broadly ovate to obovate, pointed, sometimes 

 quite entire, often coarsely and irregularly notched at the margin, and either 

 smooth or slightly downy beneath. The terminal leaflet is always the largest, 

 and from 2 to 5 ins. long, the lateral ones about two-thirds as large. Flowers 

 dull white, \ in. across, on slender panicles \\ to i\ ins. long, often unisexual, 

 the sexes sometimes separated. Fruit a round, whitish berry, 5- in. wide, 

 smooth. 



Var. RADICANS, Torrey (R. radicans, Linnaus, Bot. Mag., t. 1806). This 

 is the climbing form above mentioned. 



The poison ivy is very abundant in the eastern United States, and a 

 climbing form with bristly fruits and young stems is found in Japan. 

 As a garden plant its chief value is in the beautiful red tints of its 

 autumn foliage. It was cultivated by Compton, Bishop of London, at Fulham, 

 in the seventeenth century. The poisonous effects of the sap a yellowish 

 milk-like fluid which soon turns black on exposure have long been known. 

 As long ago as 1623, the author of the History e of the Bermudaes referred to 

 them. On the skin of many persons, but far from all, the sap produces 

 blisters and eczema-like eruptions, which are exceedingly painful and 

 persistent. The supposed active principle, " toxicodendrol," is insoluble in 

 water, and it is of no use to attempt to remove it from the skin by ordinary 

 washing. The best-known remedy to apply is an alcoholic solution of sugar 

 of lead (lead acetate), and the sooner it is used on the affected parts the 

 more effective it is. So serious are the effects of the Rhus poison on some 

 people that the plant should never be grown where its toxic properties are 

 not clearly made known. Cases of permanent disablement have been caused 

 by it in Western N. America, where a smoother, thicker-leaved form (var. 

 RYDBERGII) appears to be excessively virulent ; but even in England I know 

 of a man who had been making cuttings of it for propagation, who was kept 

 in hospital for several months through the almost corrosive effects of the 

 sap. It is said that the symptoms are sometimes recurrent, and that on some 

 persons the eruptions break out annually at the same time of year, but with 

 decreasing virulency. This phenomenon, extraordinary if true, does not 



