CASHEW FAMILY. Anacardiaceae. 



Poison Sumac ^ n excee dingly poisonous shrub with 

 Rhus Vernix compound, smooth, lighter green leaves, 

 Whitish green green on both sides, of 7-13 thin obovate 

 June but pointed leaflets without teeth. More 



frequently found in swampy land, and irritatingly 

 poisonous to the touch. The flowers are whitish green 

 and are borne in loose clusters at the angles of the 

 leaves ; they are also polygamous. Fruit a green-gray 

 berry in slim clusters. 6-15 feet high, or sometimes 24 

 feet high. In wet, low grounds, from Me., south, and 

 west to Minn, and Mo. 



A vine with a shrubby character in its 

 Poison Ivy 

 Rhu8 more southern range, but pushing its way 



toxicodendron with rapidly running rootlets in the colder 

 Whitish green northern region. A noxious poison, in- 

 May-June deed, producing a painful, burning erup- 

 tion of the skin, if the latter comes in contact with any 

 part of the plant ever so lightly ; some persons are far 

 more susceptible to the poison than others, but it has 

 been demonstrated that it acts only by contact. An 

 excellent remedy to use until a physician can be con- 

 sulted, is the well-known Extract of Witch-hazel 

 ("Pond's Extract") applied by saturating cloths and 

 wrapping them about the inflamed parts. The triple 

 leaf of Poison Ivy should never be mistaken for that of 

 the Virginia Creeper, which has five leaflets strongly 

 toothed. The leaflets of the poisonous plant are smooth, 

 but not shining, light green, toothless, and generally 

 ovate-pointed without lobes ; but sometimes the larger 

 leaves are shallowly notched or sinuous at the edge. 

 The flowers are whitish green, and with the fruit are 

 similar to those of the preceding species. Climbing high 

 on the trunks of trees, on stone walls, in thickets, or 

 running over low ground, or meadows ; sometimes 

 bushy, erect, with gray stems 2-3 inches thick, and 1-4 

 feet high. Me., south, and west to S. Dak., Utah, Ark., 

 and Tex. Common in the Pemigewasset Valley, N. H. 



