208 TREE ANCESTORS 



of the latter. It is found from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and 

 southward to Arizona and Florida. The foliage is much like that 

 of the staghom, as are its scarlet fruits. It is a hardy shrub and 

 has great possibilities for ornamental plantings which seem to be 

 but little appreciated. 



At least two of our sumachs have an evil reputation. These 

 are the rather uncommon shrub or small tree of swampy situations 

 in our eastern States known as the poison-siunach, Rhus veniix. 

 It is also sometimes called poison-elder, poison-ash, or poison-dog- 

 wood, although the ash is the only one of these to which it shows 

 any particular resemblance. Its small clustered fruits are white, 

 and its leaves consist of from 7 to 13 smooth entire leaflets, and 

 are very poisonous to most persons. Its restriction to out of the 

 way swampy situations renders it less famihar than its relative 

 the ubiquitous poison-ivy, which almost everyone has become 

 acquainted with to their sorrow, although its poisonous effects 

 vary greatly with the season and with individuals, many, including 

 the writer being entirely immune, while others are affected with 

 great severity. 



The poison-ivy, or poison-oak as it is sometimes called, represents 

 two closely related botanical species — Rkus radicans, which ranges 

 from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and southward to Florida, 

 Arkansas and Utah; and Rhus toxicodendron of our southern States, 

 They are both hardy agressive woody vines of thickets or fence 

 rows or stone walls, occasionally assuming an erect or bushy form. 

 They grow to great lengths, climbing by numerous aerial rootlets, 

 and I have seen stems of old plants in New England that were 5 

 inches in diameter. The leaves consist of three leaflets, which may 

 have their margins entire or toothed, and which are of a shiny 

 lurid green color The fruits, like those of the poison sumach, are 

 white, so that if the uninitiated will avoid swamp bushes or vines 

 with clusters of hard white fruits and with trifoliate or pinnate 

 leaves, they mil save themselves any subsequent unpleasantness. 



The last of our American species to be mentioned by name is the 

 dwarf, black, or mountain sumach, Rhus copallina, which is a shrub 

 or small tree found from Maine and southern Ontario to Florida 



