188 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANN1CUM. 



(Dec. Prod.) A shrub, with the habit of a low deciduous tree. Canada 

 to Carolina, in rocky dry situations. Height 20 ft. Introduced in 1629. 

 Flowers, female dark purple, male greenish yellow and purple ; July 

 and August. Fruit hairy, purple ; ripe in October. Decaying leaves dark 

 purple or red, sometimes mixed with yellow. Naked young wood dark 

 brown, hairy. DeCandolle has characterised two forms of this species as 

 follows : 



R. t. 1 arborescens. A tree between 10 ft. and 25 ft. high ; leaf slightly 



downy beneath. 

 & R. t. 2frutescens. Shrubby, between 2ft. and 10ft. high; audits 



leaf downy and whitish beneath. 

 % R. t. 3 viridifiora. JR. viridiflora Foir. Flowers green. Possibly 



nothing more than the male plant. 



j?hus typhina, in British gardens, is either a large shrub, or a low tree with 

 a woody stem and a head composed of many irregular branches, generally 

 crooked and deformed. The young shoots are covered with a soft velvet-like 

 down, resembling that of a young stag's horn, both in colour and texture ; 

 whence, and probably also 

 from the crookedness of the 

 branches, the common name. 

 The cellular tissue of the wood 

 is of an orange colour, with a 

 strong aromatic odour, and a 

 copious resinous juice. The 

 leaves are 2 ft. to 3 ft. long, and 

 they are very conspicuous in 

 autumn, before they drop off, 

 when they change to a purplish 

 or yellowish red. The flowers 

 are produced in close spikes at 

 the ends of the branches ; they 

 are often polygamous or di- 

 oecious by abortion, and the 

 female ones are followed by seeds enclosed in woolly, simple, succulent covers. 

 As the plant is of open irregular growth, and not of long duration, it should 

 never be placed where it is intended to act as a screen. Like all objects the 

 chief beauty of which consists in their singularity, it produces the most striking 

 effect when standing alone on a lawn. 



& * 3. R. (? T.) GLA X BRA Lin. The glabrous Rhus, or Scarlet Sumach. 



Identification. Lin. Spec., 380.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 67.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 70.; Tor. and Gray, 1. p. 217. 

 Engravings. Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 15. ; and OUT Jig. 283., the female. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaf glabrous, of 8 10 pairs of leaflets, 

 and an odd one; leaflets lanceolate-oblong, serrate, 

 whitish beneath. Branches glabrous. (Dec. Prod.) 

 A deciduous shrub or low tree. Canada to Georgia. 

 Height 5 ft. to 18 ft. Introduced in 1726. Flowers, 

 male greenish yellow, female greenish red. Fruit red ; 

 ripe in October. DeCandolle has distinguished three 

 forms of this species ; namely : 



SI R. g. 1 hermaphrodlta. R. glabra Willd. Spec. 

 i. p. 1478., Dill. Elth. t. 243. Flowers her- 

 maphrodite, greenish. 



Sfe R. g. 2dioica Lam. 111. t. 207. f. 1. Flowers 

 dioecious, greenish. 



fl* R. g. ? 3 coccinea. R. carolinianum Mill. Diet. ; 



R. elegans Ait., Lodd. Cat., Dend, Brit. t. 16. ^f^ v]ffW 

 Flowers dioecious, red. This variety is dis- j^ 3 aw* gob* 



