90 SHARP EYES 



There are five species of sumach which are more or 

 less common in the eastern United States. The sixth 

 species of the genus, Rhus aromatica, being especially 

 found westward. Of these but two are poisonous the 

 RJnis venenata and the Rhus toxicodcndron. 



The first of these is a truly venomous plant, frequent- 

 ing swamps and wet thickets, where its foliage blends 

 with the alders and willows. It bears the popular 

 names of poison-sumach, poison-dogwood, and poison- 

 elder, and is a shrub varying from six to twenty-five 

 feet in height, with foliage as suggested in the accom- 

 panying introductory illustration, consisting of about 

 five pairs of opposite and a terminal leaflet, the form 

 called " odd pinnate " in our botanies. To the ordinary 

 observer it appears somewhat like the other sumachs, 

 though on careful examination it will be seen to have 

 a distinct, pert, mischievous, "all on end" look about 

 it, caused by a peculiar upward inclination of the leaf- 

 lets. Its swampy haunts should also serve in a meas- 

 ure to identify it ; and though in the summer it might 

 easily be encountered unawares, in the autumn it need 

 never so waylay us, for, as Thoreau says, " it blazes its 

 sins as scarlet " in its haunts, and is conspicuous. 



The other poisonous species, Rhus toxicodcndron, 

 would scarcely be considered a sumach at all by the 

 ordinary observer; its popular name of "poison-ivy" 

 being quite expressive of its peculiar habit of growth. 

 The other common name of " poison oak " applied to 

 the same plant would seem to be rather inconsistent 

 with the first, but the two are scarcely as inconsistent as 

 they appear, for the Rhus toxicodendron masquerades in 

 a variety of guises both as to foliage and manner of 

 growth, the two extremes being so widely at variance as 



