CASHEW FAMILY. 113 



§ 1. Leaves compound; fruit symmetrical, with style terminal. 



* Flowers whitish, in larye and very compact terminal panicles, in early 

 summer, succeeded by a compact mass of crimson fruit, beset with red- 

 dish acid hairs ; not poisonous. Leaves pinnate. 



•*- Petioles not winged ; leaflets glabrous or hairy only on veins beneath. 



R. typhina, Linn. Staghorn Sumach. Shrub or tree, 10"-30° high ; 

 juice resinous-milky ; branches and stalks velvety -hairy ; large leaves of 

 11-31 lance-oblong, pointed, and serrate leaflets. Hillsides ; also planted. 

 There is a cut-leaved form in cultivation. 



R. glslbra, Linn. Smooth S. Shrub 2°-12° high, like the last, but 

 smooth, the leaflets whitened beneath. — Var. laciniita, in Penn., 

 has the leaflets cut into narrow, irregular lobes ; planted. Rocky 

 places. 



t- -t- Petioles winged or margined; leaflets densely pubescent beneath. 



R. copalllna, Linn. Dwarf S. Shrub l°-b'^ high, spreading by sub- 

 terranean shoots; stalks and branches downy ; leaflets 9-21, oblong or 

 lance-ovate oblique, entire or serrate, thickish and shining above ; panicle 

 J as long as leaves ; drupes sparsely pilose ; juice resinous. Rocky or 

 sandy ground. 



/?. semialata, Murr., var. Osbeckii, DC. Winged S. A small tree or 

 shrub ; leaflets 4-6 pairs, sessile, crenate-serrate ; panicle very large, 

 equaling the leaves ; drupes densely tomentose. Japan. 



* » Flowers in slender axillary panicles, in summer ; frnit smooth, white 

 or dun-color ; leaves pinnate or trifoliate, poisonous to the touch for 

 most people, the juice resinous. 



R. venenata, DC. Poison Sumach, P. Elder, or P. Dogwood. 



Shrub G"-18° high, smooth, with pinnate leaves of 7-13 obovate, entire 

 leaflets, and very slender panicles. More virulent than the next. Swampy 

 ground. 



R. Toxicodendron, Linn. Poison Ivy or Poison Oak. Climbing by 

 rootlets over rocks, etc., or ascending trees ; leaflets 3, rhombic-ovate, 

 often sinuate or cut-lobed, rather downy beneath. A vile pest. Common 

 in low grounds. Var. radicans is more erect, less poisonous, with more 

 entire leaves. 



* * * Floivers light yellow, dioecious, in small, scaly-bracted and catkin- 

 like spikes, in spring before the leaves appear; leaves of 3 cut-lobed 

 leaflets. 



R. Canadensis, Marsh. Fragrant S. A straggling bush, with the 

 small, rhombic-ovate leaflets pubescent when young, aromatic-scented. 

 Rocky places from Vermont W. and S. 



Var. trilob^ta. Gray, far westward, has smaller crenate leaflets. 



§ 2. Leaves simple, entire ; fruit gibbous, the remains of the style lateral ; 

 flowers in loose, ample panicles; pedicels elongating and becoming 

 feathery. 



R. Cbtinus, Linn. Smoke Tree or Venetian Sumach. Shrub o°-{>° 

 high, smooth, with obovate leaves on slender petioles ; fruits very few, 

 half-heart-shaped ; usually most of the flowers are abortive, while their 

 pedicels lengthen, branch, and bear long plumy hairs, making large and 

 light, feathery, or cloud-like bunches, either greenish or tinged with red. 

 In common cultivation. 



R. cotlnoides, Nutt. Leaves thin, oval, 3'-6' long. Otherwise as in 

 the preceding. Mo., Tenn., aad 8. 

 gray's F. F. & G. bot. 8 



