The Sumachs and the Smoke Tree 



trunked evergreen tree which forms thickets along the coast 

 bluffs of Lower California and the adjacent islands. The leaves 

 are simple, oval, and often toothed like the holly. Its flowers are 

 in scant terminal clusters, white or rosy, succeeded by large, red, 

 hairy berries. A cooling drink is sometimes made of the acid, 

 fatty exudations of these berries, and the wood makes good fuel. 

 The Smooth Sumach (R. glabra, Linn.) is rarely given 

 rank as a tree, though it sometimes almost deserves it. Like 

 the staghorn, this species has serrate leaflets and dense, erect 

 clusters of red fruit. But it is smooth instead of hairy, except 

 its fruits, and its twigs have a pale, glaucous bloom. This is 

 one of the best species for decorative planting. Its foliage is 

 clean and fine, and turns to rich colours in fall. Its large fruits 

 last late into winter. The berries, bark and leaves are used in the 

 treatment of fevers, A cooling beverage, pleasantly acid, is 

 made of the unripe fruit in summer. This species is found 

 everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains, and extends to British 

 Columbia and Arizona. It is oftenest seen in situations chosen 

 also by the staghorn sumach. 



2. Genus METOPIUM, P. Br. 



The Poison Wood, or Hog Gum (Meiopium Metopium, 

 Small), a beautiful little West Indian sumach, breathes poison 

 from its flowers and leaves not unlike that exhaled by Rhus 

 toxicodendron, the poison ivy. The bitter, poisonous juice exudes 

 as a gum from cracks in the thin, orange-brown bark. In lower 

 Florida the tree is abundant along the coast, and on the Keys. 

 There is an old account that says: "Wild Hogs, when wounded, 

 by natural instinct come to this tree, where by rubbing its balsam 

 on their wounds, they are cured." Its leaves are pinnate, some- 

 what ash-like, and the drooping clusters of glossy, orange-red 

 berries have given the tree the name, Coral Sumach. 



3. Genus COTINUS, Linn. 



The American Smoke Tree (Cotinus Americanus, Nutt.) 

 shows by its pithy stems, aromatic, resinous juice, and general 

 habit, its kinship with the sumachs, which are better known. 



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