The Sumachs and the Smoke Tree 



colour effects. Its habit of spreading by root suckers makes 

 it objectionable for planting except in situations where the 

 trees can spread unchecked, and the massed effect of the 

 foliage can be enjoyed at some distance. The fern-like 

 leaves are much larger if the plants are cut back severely 

 each spring. For screen and border shrubs this species is 

 very satisfactory. 



The Dwarf, Black, or Mountain Sumach (Rhus copallina, 

 Linn.), is the soft, velvety species, fully as handsome, if not quite 

 as large, as the preceding one. It grows all over the eastern half 

 of the United States and beyond the Mississippi to the foothills 

 of the Rocky Mountains. Usually a shrub, it rises to 30 feet in 

 height in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. It is 

 the latest of all the sumachs to bloom. Its long pinnate leaves 

 are lined with soft hair, and the central leaf stem is winged on 

 each side between the pairs of leaflets. These are the most beau- 

 tiful leaves to be found in the sumach family. They turn in 

 autumn to dark, rich reds. 



In the South, the leaves are gathered in summer in considerable 

 quantities, for they are rich in tannin, and when dried and pulver- 

 ised, are used for tanning leather. A yellow dyestuff is also 

 extracted from them. 



The Poison Sumach {Rhus Vernix, Linn.), "one of the 

 most beautiful, but unfortunately the most poisonous of the 

 sumachs," ranges from New England to Minnesota, south to 

 Georgia, and across to Texas. It is more to be dreaded than the 

 poison ivy, or the poisonwood of Florida, both of which are near 

 relatives. Though widely distributed, it always grows in swampy 

 land, and as its leaves and flowers proclaim it a sumach, people 

 ought to learn to suspect it because of its habitat. Only red- 

 fruited sumachs are safe to touch. This species has greyish- 

 white berries. The clusters droop; in harmless sumachs they 

 stand erect. 



White berries in drooping clusters in swampy ground irarn 

 the collector to pass the poison sumach by, no matter how alluring 

 its brilliant foliase. There is certain poisoning for those who 

 are rash enough to touch it. 



The Western Sumach, or Mahogany {Rhus integrifolia, 

 Benth. & Hook.), is entirely different, of course, from the true 

 mahogany, a lumber tree of the tropics. This is a low, stou*^- 



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