186 GLEANINGS FEOM NATURE, 



simmon. The other is the dwarf birch, Betula pumila 

 L., a northern plant which, like the tamarack, reaches 

 in this swamp its southern limit in our State. 



One other plant which I fain would omit from the 

 list of those noted must now be mentioned. All those 

 preceding are either useful or harmless in their ways, 

 but this one is the most poisonous species known to 

 the flora of Indiana. It is the poison sumach or swamp 

 elder, own brother to our common ivy but much more 



venomous as its scientific name, Rhus 

 Sumach venenata DC., denotes. It is a shrub 



growing to the height of twelve or 

 more feet. Its large compound leaves are often 

 two feet in length and composed of nine to thirteen 

 slender leaflets; while from their axils the white, 

 grape-like^ fruit hangs in loose bunches. It grows 

 only in the northern swamps and its juice, or even the 

 exhalation from its leaves, causes small white blisters 

 to appear anywhere 011 the surface of the exposed 

 skin. In this swamp it was abundant, growing in 

 every open space, and although I tried to avoid it as 

 much as possible yet the blistered, itching skin which 

 I endured for days after my return proved to me too 

 well its poisoning powers. 



The scarcity of animal life within the swamp has 

 already been mentioned. It is said to be a famous 

 place for owls, and is in every way well fitted for 

 those ominous birds of prey which delight in all that 

 is dark and dismal. In the words of Thoreau : 

 "Their 'hoo-hoo-hoo, hooer-hoo', is a sound admirably 

 suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day 

 illustrates, suggesting a vast undeveloped nature which 



