76 ANACARDIACEJE. (CASHEW FAMILY.) 



thing but "airs from heaven," offer a serious objection to the planting of this 

 ornamental tree near dwellings. 



ORDER 32. ANACARDIACE.E. (CASHEW FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with a resinous or milky acrid juice, dotless alternate 

 leaves, and small, often polyyajnons, regular pentandrous flowers, with a 1- 

 celled and 1-ovuled ovary, but with 3 styles or stigmas. Petals imbricated 

 in the bud. Seed borne on a curved stalk that rises from the base of the 

 cell, without albumen. Stipules none. Often poisonous. Represented 

 only by the genus 



1. RHITS, L. SUMACH. 



Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 5, inserted under the edge or between the lobes 

 of a flattened disk in the bottom of the calyx. Fruit small and indehiscent, a 

 sort of dry drupe. Leaves (simple in R. Cotinus, the Smoke-Plant of gardens) 

 usually compound. Flowers greenish-white or yellowish. (The old Greek and 

 Latin name of the genus.) 



$ 1. SlllMAC, DC. Flowers polygamous, in a terminal thyrsoid panicle : fruit 

 globular, clothed with acid crimson hairs ; the stone smooth : leaves odd-pinnate. 

 (Not poisonous.) 



1. R. typllina, L. (STAGHORN SUMACH.) Branches and stalks densely 

 velvety-hairy; leaflets 11-31, pale beneath, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, serrate. 

 Hill-sides. June. Shrub or tree 10 -30 high, with orange-colored wood. 



2. R. glabra, L. (SMOOTH SUMACH.) Smooth, somewhat glaucous; 

 leaflets 11-31, whitened beneath, lanceolate-oblong, pointed, serrate. Rocky 

 or ban-en soil. June, July. Shrub 2 - 12 high. 



3. R. COimlliim, L. (DWARF SUMACH.) Branches and stalks dou-ny; 

 riinlcs wing-margined between the 9-21 oblong or ovate-lanceolate leaflotH, 

 which are oblique or unequal at the base, smooth and shining above. Rocky 

 hills. July. Shrub 1- 7 high, with running roots. Leaflets variable, en- 

 tire or sparingly toothed. 



{ 2. TOXICODF^NDRON, Tourn. Flowers polygamous, in loose and sender 

 axillary panicles: fruit globular, glabrous, whitish 01- dim-colored; the stone stri'Me: 

 leaves odd-pinnate or 3-foliolate, thin. (Poisonous to the touch : even the effluvium 

 in swish the nj/'irting some persons.) 



4. R. veiienata, DC. (POISON SUMACH or DOGWOOD.) Smooth, 

 or nearly so; leaflets! -13, obovate-obloug , entire. (R. Vernix, L., partly.) 

 Swamps. June. Shrub 6 -18 high. The most poisonous species. Also 

 called, inappropriately, Poison Elder and Poison Dogwood. 



5. R. Toxicodendron, L. (POISON IVY. POISON OAK.) Climb- 

 ing by rootlets over rocks, &c., or ascending trees ; leaflets 3, rhombic-mate^ 

 mostly pointed, and rather downy beneath, variously notched or cut-lobed, 01 

 entire When climbing trees, it is R. radicans, L. Thickets, &c. June. 



