6o8 



The Sumacs 



about 3 mm. long. The leaves are from 2 to 6 dm. long, with 11 to 31 leaflets 



and a round hairy stalk and axis; the 

 leaflets are very short-stalked or stalk- 

 less, lanceolate to oblong- lanceolate, 7 

 to 12 cm. long, long- pointed, sharply 

 toothed, firm, dark green and nearly 

 smooth on the upper surface when fully 

 grown, pale and somewhat hairy, at least 

 on the veins, on the under side. The 

 tree flowers in June or early July; the 

 dense panicles of flowers are at the ends 

 of branches, 3 dm. long or less, those of 

 staminate flowers on one tree, the pistil- 

 late on another; the individual flowers 

 are green and about 3 mm. wide when 

 expanded; the calyx is hairy and its 

 lobes pointed; the petals of the stami- 

 nate flowers are reflexed, those of the 

 pistillate flowers erect or a Uttle spread- 

 ing. The bunches of fruit are about 2 

 dm. long, the little drupes nearly globu- 

 lar, densely covered with crimson hairs, the stone smooth and bony. 



The wood is soft, orange-green, coarse-grained, with a specific gravity of about 

 0.44. The bark contains much tannin. 



Fig. 558. Staghorn Sumac. 



5. SMOOTH SUMAC - Rhus glabra Linnaeus 



Schmaltzia glabra Small 



While usually a shrub, growing in colonies, this 

 species occasionally forms a tree 6 or 7 meters high, 

 with a trunk i dm. thick. It is very widely distribu- 

 ted in North America, ranging from Nova Scotia 

 to Ontario, Michigan and Minnesota, south to Flor- 

 ida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, preferring hillsides. 

 It is also known as Upland sumac and Scarlet sumac. 



The thin bark is gray and nearly smooth. The 

 stout young shoots are smooth and often covered 

 with a bluish bloom. The buds are globose, 3 to 

 4 mm. long, and whitish-woolly. The leaves are 

 smooth, with a round wingless axis, and have 11 

 to 31 lanceolate or oblong- lanceolate leaflets, which 

 are 10 cm. long or less, stalkless or very short- 



FiG. 559. Smooth Sumar 



