74 Sumach ( Anacardiacece) 



Fig. 24. (4) Poison Sumach. Poison Dogwood. Poison 

 Elder. R. vernix, L. ( R. venenata, D. C.) 



Flowers, small, green, in long, loose clusters at the bases 

 of the upper leaves. June. 



Leaflets, seven to thirteen, edge entire, long oval or egg- 

 shape, smooth and thin, base rounded or pointed. 

 Leaf-stem, red throughout, and not winged. 



Fruit, about the size of small peas, rounded, smooth, 

 shining, dry. Stone, lined. A dry drupe. September. 



Found, in swampy land, widely distributed. 



A tall shrub (or sometimes a small tree) six to eigh- 

 teen feet high. It is violently poisonous to the touch, 

 causing, in most persons, a painful eruption ; some are 

 poisoned by it without touching it, probably by means of 

 the drifting pollen of its flowers. A recommended appli- 

 cation is sugar of lead, applied after the use of saline 

 cathartics, or a thick paste of bicarbonate of soda rubbed 

 into the skin as soon as the eruption appears. It is also 

 claimed that relief and, if used promptly, frequent cure 

 follow the use of belladonna, of apis mellifica, or of 

 arsenicum album, taken in homceopathic doses. But 

 there are wellnigh as many recommended antidotes as 

 there are for the bite of a rattlesnake. 



Apart from other differences, the Poison Sumach can 

 be easily and quickly distinguished from all other Sumachs 

 by these signs : It differs from the Smooth Sumach and 

 the Stag-Horn Sumach in having the edge of its leaflets 

 entire ; from the Dwarf Sumach, by the absence of the 

 winged stem between its leaflets and by its red leaf- 

 stem. 



