396 . RHUS RIBES 



the ground, the young shoots being afterwards reduced to one or two. Given 

 liberal treatment at the root, erect stems 5 or 6 ft. high with leaves up to 



3 ft. long will be produced, the leaflets correspondingly large. 



Var. LACINIATA. Leaflets very handsomely cut. 



R. VERN1CIFERA, De Candollc. LACQUER TREE. 



A deciduous tree, up to 60 ft. high in China, of erect, slender habit when 

 young. Leaves pinnate, i to 2 ft. long, with seven to thirteen leaflets which 

 are broadly ovate, the largest 6 or 7 ins. long, half as much wide, sometimes 

 obliquely heart-shaped at the base, shortly stalked, velvety downy beneath, 

 especially on the veins. Flowers yellowish white, small and inconspicuous, 

 produced during July in a cluster of lax, branching panicles from the leaf-axils 

 near the end of the shoots, the largest panicles 10 ins. long by 6 ins. wide. 

 Fruits about the size of small peas, yellowish. 



Native of Central and W. China, and cultivated there largely ; it is also 

 much cultivated in Japan, but is not, perhaps, a true native. This is the tree 

 which yields by incision the famous varnish or lacquer of Japan. As a tree 

 for the garden it is desirable for its noble foliage. The fruits also are 

 ornamental, as I have seen them in Mr de Vilmorin's garden at Les Barres, in 

 long lax panicles ; but they may not be so freely produced in this less sunny 

 climate. Mr Wilson has recently collected seeds in China from trees growing 

 truly wild on the mountains, and the plants that have been raised from them 

 will, he believes, be hardier than the Japanese trees which previously were 

 the only representatives of the species in gardens ; they grow much faster at 

 any rate. An oil is expressed from the fruit, which is used for candle-making. 



R. VERNIX, Linnceus. POISON SUMACH. 



(R. venenata, De Candolle.) 



A small deciduous tree, up to 20 ft. high, with a trunk 15 to 18 ins. thick, 

 usually much smaller in England, and often breaking near the ground into 

 two or three stems ; branchlets smooth and grey. Leaves pinnate, with 

 purplish stalks, quite smooth except when young ; leaflets nine to eleven, 2 to 



4 ins. long, one-third as much wide, ovate or obovate, entire. Flowers |- in. 

 across, greenish yellow, produced on thin, slender panicles 4 to 6 ins. long 

 from the leaf-axils of the current season's growth. Fruit the size of a pepper- 

 corn, yellowish white,, and hanging in a cluster of graceful panicles from near 

 the end of the branchlets. Plants unisexual. 



Native of the eastern United States ; cultivated in England since early 

 in the eighteenth century. None of the sumachs is more beautiful than this 

 in its autumn tints, the foliage putting on brilliant shades of orange and 

 scarlet before it falls. Yet it is not much grown in this country, and perhaps 

 wisely so, for it is one of the most dangerous hardy trees in cultivation, 

 owing to the toxic properties of its sap even, it is said, of its exhalations ! 

 The latter may be doubtful ; but all that has been said as to the need of care 

 in dealing with R. Toxicodendron applies with equal, if not greater, force to 

 this species. It appears with both that persons in a state of perspiration are 

 most susceptible to their effects. It flowers in July, and the fruit often remains 

 throughout the winter. 



RIBES. CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES. SAXIFRAGACE^E. 



Important as this genus is in comprising the gooseberries, the black, 

 red, and white currants of our fruit gardens, it does not, in the ornamental 



