RHUS 



231 



This species is said to be much more poisonous than the Poison Ivy 

 and should be avoided. Blossoms in May, fruit ripe in August. 



Rhus toxicodendron L i n n e 1753 Poison Ivy Poison Oak 

 Rhus radicans Linne 1753 



A low erect or suberect shrub, 0.3-1 m. high, bark gray with numerous 

 lenticels, twigs slightly pubescent ; leaves pinnately trifoliate, petioles 

 5-25 cm. long, leaflets ovate to rhombic, mostly rounded at the base, 

 acuminate at the apex or sometimes blunt, margin entire, crenulate or ir- 

 regularly and coarsely few-toothed, mostly glabrous above, paler and 

 pubescent beneath, 7-14 cm. long, 4-10 cm. broad, petioles of lateral leaf- 

 lets about 5 mm. long; panicle rather loose, 6-12 cm. long, flowers green- 

 ish, small, about 4 mm. broad; fruit globose, greenish-yellow or whitish, 

 about 5 mm. in diameter, glabrous and shining, persistent through the 

 winter and in age becoming grooved : toxicodendron, poison-tree. 



Abundant in thickets, woods, roadsides, hedgerows, etc. Common 

 throughout the state. Distributed from Nova Scotia to British Columbia 

 south to Florida, Ark. and Utah. 



