Rhus venenata, 
THE POISONOUS RHUS. 
Synonymes. 
f De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Hooker, Flora Boreali Americana. 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
Torrey and Gray, Flora of North America. 
Bigelow, Medical Botany. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Poison Sumach, Swamp Sumach, Poison j Britmn ^ Asoij0 .Ax Z j LKJi . 
Elder, Poison- wood, 
Rhus venenata, 
Rhus vernix, 
Sumac veneneux, 
Giftiger Sumach, 
Albero del veleno, 
Derivation, The specific name, venenata, is derived from the Latin venerium, poison, on account of the poisonous nature 
of this shrub to most persons. 
Engravings. Bigelow, Medipal Botany, i., pi. 19 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., figure 226 ; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Leaf rather glabrous than pubescent, of 5 6 pairs of leaflets, and the odd one, which 
are ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, and beneath reticulately veined. De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Description. 
HE Rhus venenata, in its 
* natural habitat, is a de- 
ciduous shrub, or low 
iSNW tree, growing to a height 
of ten to twenty feet; but when cultivated on 
more elevated grounds, it does not attain so great 
an elevation. The leaves are divided like those 
of the Rhus typhina, but differ in being smooth 
and shining; the leaflets are very entire, nar- 
row, and pointed, with purplish-red veins; and 
in autumn they change to an intense red, or pur- 
ple. The flowers, which appear in May, June, 
and July, are mostly dioecious, small, and of a 
greenish colour. The drupes are whitish, and 
about the size of peas ; and the nuts are rather 
broader than long, compressed and furrowed. 
Geography and History. The Rhus venenata 
is indigenous to North America, and may be 
found in swamps, and moist, shady situations, 
from Canada to Louisiana. It was introduced into Britain in 1713, and is culti- 
vated in several of the European collections. 
Properties, Uses, fyc. Every part of this shrub, even when reduced to charcoal, 
is in a high degree poisonous to most persons, either by touching or smelling any 
part of it. It operates somewhat differently upon different constitutions; and 
some, it is said, are incapable of being poisoned by it at all. This may be true 
under some circumstances, but is liable to fail under others. A few years since, 
in a hot day in the month of August, while prosecuting a public survey, we 
directed a number of men to cut a pathway through a swamp, densely filled with 
this poisonous plant. As most of us had never suffered any inconvenience from 
