Smoke Tree 



613 



laic, coriaceous, and evergreen. The flowers are mainly dioecious, and borne in 

 dense bracted racemes arranged in panicles at the ends of branches, opening 

 very early in the spring. The fruit is densely hairy, enclosing a bony, smooth 

 stone. 



The California mahogany, also called California sumac, the type of the genus, 

 occurs in southern California, 

 northern Lower California, and 

 on the adjacent islands of the 

 Pacific Ocean, growing in sandy 

 or rocky soil along and near the 

 coasts. It occasionally becomes 

 10 meters in height, with a trunk 

 about a meter in diameter, but 

 is usually much smaller, and 

 commonly a mere shrub, form- 

 ing thickets; its branches are 



long and spreading. F^- 564- - California Mahogany. 



The bark is thin, reddish brown and scaly. The young twigs are finely velvety, 

 red-brown, becoming smooth or nearly so after about three years' growth. The 

 buds are round, small and hairy. The leaves are thick and leather)', entire- 

 margined or sometimes spiny-toothed, rarely divided into 3 leaflets, with the 2 

 lateral leaflets smaller than the terminal one; they are ovate to oval, finely hairy 

 when very young but smooth on both sides, except on the veins of the lower surface 

 when mature, 8 cm. long or less, thick-stalked, shining green on the upper side, 

 pale green beneath. The dense clustered racemes are i to 3 cm. long; the flower- 

 stalks are thick and very short, bearing 2 to 4 ovate pointed hair}'-f ringed bracts; 

 the small flowers are pink, the sepals nearly orbicular and the petals reflexed. 

 The ovoid fruit is i to 1.5 cm. long, flattened, densely covered with red hairs; it 

 is resinous and viscid-juicy. 



The wood is hard, bright red, with a specific gravity of about 0.78, and furnishes 

 a valuable fuel. 



V. SMOKE TREE 



GENUS COTINUS ADANSON 



Species Cotinus americanus Nuttall 



Rhus cotinoides Nuttall. Cotinus cotinoides Britton 



NLY 2 species of Cotinus are known, one inhabiting southern Europe 

 and warm-temperate Asia, commonly planted for ornament, the 

 other, long considered identical with it, being found wild in a few 

 places in the southern and south-central United States. The two 

 species are very much ahke; they both having simple leaves and large panicles 



