WHITE 



to the acrid juice of the plant. The delicate leaflets "sleep " at 

 night ; that is, they droop and close one against another. 



POISON SUMACH. 



Rkus venenata. Cashew Family. 



A shrub from six to eighteen feet high. Leaves. Divided into seven 

 to thirteen oblong entire leaflets, flowers. Greenish or yellowish-white, 

 in loose axillary clusters ; some perfect, others unisexual. Fruit. Whitish 

 or dun-colored, small, globular. 



The poison sumach infests swampy places and flowers in 

 June. In early summer it can be distinguished from the harm- 

 less members of the family by the slender flower-clusters which 

 grow from the axils of the leaves, those of the innocent sumachs 

 being borne in pyramidal, terminal clusters. In the later year the 

 fruits of the respective shrubs are, of course, similarly situated, 

 but, to accentuate the distinction, they differ in color ; that of 

 the poison sumach being whitish or dun-colored, while that of 

 the other is crimson. 



STAGHORN SUMACH. 



Rhus typhina. Cashew Family. 



A shrub or tree from ten to thirty feet high. Leaves. Divided into 

 eleven to thirty-one somewhat lance-shaped, toothed leaflets. Flowers. 

 Greenish or yellowish-white, in upright terminal clusters, some perfect, others 

 unisexual, appearing in June. Fruit. Crimson, small, globular, hairy. 



This is the common sumach which illuminates our hill-sides 

 every autumn with masses of flame-like color. Many of us would 

 like to decorate our homes with its brilliant sprays, but are de- 

 terred from handling them by the fear of being poisoned, not 

 knowing that one glance at the crimson fruit-plumes should re- 

 assure us, as the poisonous sumachs are white-fruited. These 

 tossing pyramidal fruit-clusters at first appear to explain the 

 common title of staghorn sumach. It is not till the foliage has 

 disappeared, and the forked branches are displayed in all their 

 nakedness, that we feel that these must be the feature in which 

 the common name originated. 



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