R H U 



R H U 



fionietitnes only lialf so high, frequently thicker 

 than the huniaii arm, very much branched from 

 the bottom irregularly ; the wood white, the 

 bark ash-coloured. The branches round, scar- 

 red, with a snioothish testaceous bark. The 

 leaves alternately scattered, coriaceous, large, 

 quite entire, very smooth, becoming ferruginous 

 underneath, scarcely nerved except the midrib, 

 having a longitudinal streak on the upper sur- 

 face, of a wide-lanceolate form, more attenuat- 

 ed towards the thick petiole. The flowering- 

 buds formed in autumn for the year following, 

 and consisting of ferruginous, ovate-acute, con- 

 cave, very smooth, imbricate scales. The 

 flowers in a short raceme at the end of the 

 branchlets, about ten, and very handsome. It 

 is a native of the Levant, flowering in May and 

 June. 



The fifth rises in its native soil, fifteen or 

 sixteen feet high, with a shrubby stalk, sending 

 out a few Branches towards the top. The leaves 

 stiff, smooth, six inches long and two broad, of 

 a lucid green on their upper side, and pale on 

 their under, whilst young; but afterwards chang- 

 ing to the colour of rusty iron: they have short 

 thick footstalks, and are placed without order 

 round the branches : between these the buds are 

 formed for the next year's flowers; these swell 

 to a large size during the autunm and spring 

 months till the beginning of June, when the 

 flowers burst out from their covers, forming a 

 roundish sessile hunch or corymb. It is a na- 

 tive of North America, flowering here from 

 June to August. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 sowing the seeds, which are very small, as 

 soon as possible after thev are procured, ei- 

 ther in a shady border, or in pots filled with 

 fresh loam, having ihem very lightly covered 

 with a little fine mould, and plunging the pots up 

 to their rims in a shadv border, and iu hard 

 frost covering them with bell- or hand-glasses ; 

 taking them ofl'inniild weather. When they 

 are sown earlv in autumn, the plants come up 

 the following spring, when they must he kept 

 shaded from the sun^ especially the first sum- 

 mer, and duly refreshed with water ; in the au- 

 tunm following removing them to a shadv situa- 

 tion, on a loamy soil, covering the ground 

 ahout the roots with moss, to guard them from 

 J'rost in winter and keep the ground moist in 

 the summer season. 



They may also be increased from suckers or 

 offsets, which they produce plentifully where 

 ^hey grow naturally, but seldom in this climate. 



They arc very ornamcnUi! in the border, 

 clumps, and other parts of sh'ubberies. 



RHUBARB. See Rheum. 



RHUS, a genus containing plants of the tree 

 and shrub kinds; Sumach and Toxicodendron. 



It belongs to the class and order Peiifandria 

 Triginiu, and ranks in the natural order of Du- 

 mosce. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianth, inferior, erect, permanent : the 

 corolla has five ovate petals, from upright 

 spreading : the stamina have five very short 

 filaments : anthers small, shorter than the 

 corolla : the pistillum is a superior roundish 

 germ, the size of the corolla: styles scarcely 

 any: stigmas three, cordate, small: the peri- 

 carpium is a roundish one-celled berry : the seed 

 one, roundish, bony. 



The species are; I. R. coriaria, Elm-leaved 

 Sumach ; 2. R. typhinum, Stag's Horn Vir- 

 ginian Sumach; 3. /?.g/a^'r«m. Scarlet Sumach; 

 4. R. elegans, Carolina Sumach ; 5. R. cupalli- 

 num, Lentiscus-leaved Sumach ; 6. R. cotinus, 

 Venice Sumach; 7. R. toxicodendron, TTzl\\\n^ 

 Poison-oak, or Sumach ; 8. R. vcrnix, Varnish 

 Sumach; 9. R. radicans, Rooting Poison-oak, or 

 Sumach; 10. R. tomentosum, Wooly-leaved 

 Sumach; \\. R. angiLst'ifolium, Narrow-leaved 

 Sumach; 1'2. R, lucidum, Shining-leaved Su- 

 mach. 



The first has a strong woody stem dividing 

 into many irregular branches, and rises to the 

 height of eight or ten feet; the hark is hairy, 

 and of an herbaceous brown colour whilst young. 

 The leaves are composed of seven or eight pairs 

 of leaHets terminated by an odd one : these 

 leaflets are about two inches long, and half an 

 inch wide in the middle, and of a yellowish 

 green colour. The flowers grow in loose pani- 

 cles at the end of the branches, each panicle 

 being composed of several thick spikes of flow- 

 ers sitting close to the footstalks : they are of a 

 whitish herbaceous colour, and appear in July. 

 It grows naturally in Italy, Spain, Sic. 



The branches are u'ed instt:ad of oak-bark 

 for tanning leather, and it is said that Turkey 

 leather is all tanned with this shrub. 



The second species has a woody stem, from 

 which are sent out many irregular branches, 

 generally crooked and deformed. The young 

 branches are covered with a soft velvet-like 

 down, greatly resembling that of a young stag's 

 h.orn both in colour and. texture, whence it has 

 vulgarly the name of the Stag's Horn Tree. The 

 leaves have six or seven pairs of -ieafltts, termi- 

 nated i)y an odd one ; their under surface and 

 the midrib are hairy. The flowers are produced 

 in close tufts at the end of the branches in July, 

 and are followed by seeds, inclosed in purple 

 wooly succulent covers, so that the bunches are 

 of a beautiful purple colour in autunm ; the 



