Sumach ( Anacardiacecc ) 



Leaves, compound, opposite ; leaflets three to five, toothed, 

 pale beneath, with scattered hairs. Branches, green- 

 ish-striped. 



Fruit, the most remarkable thing about the plant, large, 

 inflated, three-sided, three-parted at the top, three- 

 celled, each cell with one to four smooth, hard seeds, 

 with an odor much like that of a pea-pod. A capsule. 



Found, in moist woods and thickets northward from North 

 Carolina and Tennessee. 

 A handsome shrub, six to ten feet high. 



12. Family AN AC ARDIACEyE. (Sumach Fam.) 

 Genus Rhus, L. (Sumachs.) 



Possibly from a word meaning " red." 



Flowers, greenish, yellowish, or reddish, small, regular, often in the 

 staminate and pistillate forms. Petals, five, not united. Sepals, 

 five. Stamens, five, alternate with the petals. Styles, three. Seed- 

 case, free, one-celled, with one seed. 



Leaves, compound, alternate. 



Fruit, nearly round, small, not splitting when ripe, one-seeded. An 



almost dry drupe. 



Guide to the Species. 



(a) Leaflets, more than three. 



(b) Edge of leaflets toothed. 



(c) Leaf stem and branchlets smooth, (i) Smooth Sumach. 

 (c) " very downy. (2) Stag-Horn Sumach. 



(b) Edge of leaflets entire. 



(c) The common leaf-stem winged between the leaflets. (3) Dwarf 



Sumach. 

 (/) The common leaf-stem not winged. (4) Poison Sumach. 

 (a) Leaflets, three. 



(6) Edge of leaflets entire, or with a few sharp teeth. (5) Poison Ivy. 

 (b) Edge of leaflets with large rounded teeth. (6) Sweet Sumach. 



Fig. 22. (1) Smooth Sumach. R. glabra, L. 

 Flowers, small, greenish-red, in dense terminal pyramid- 

 shaped clusters. June, July. 



Leaflets, eleven to thirteen, two to three and a half inches 

 long, toothed, pale beneath. Leaf-stem and branch- 

 lets, smooth. 



