i 



VOL. XLIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 5Q5 



and the plant, vvhicli produces it, is the toxicodendron carolinianum foliis pin- 

 natis, floribus minimis herbaceis. Abbe M. found also a plant of the same 

 growing in a garden at St. Germain, then only about 2 feet high. This tree is 

 remarkable for its leaves, which are continued like wings the whole length of the 

 twigs. He pulled off' one of the leaves, the juice of which produced a brownish 

 colour on his ruffle, but did not change black in less than 2 or 3 hours. 



He examined all the plants of the same class. Near this was the toxicoden- 

 dron triphyllum folio sinuato pubescente, T. 6ll. Hederae trifoliae Canadensi 

 affinis planta peregrina, arbor venenata quorundam, H. R. par. 84. Arbor tri- 

 folia venenata Virginiana folio hirsuto, Raii. hist. 1799- This plant was not yet 

 above 3 feet high; its leaves are hairy; their pedicles, ribs, and fibres, are red; 

 a leaf being pulled ofF, a milky juice issued from the pedicle, which being put 

 on linen, became a finer black than the former, in less than half an hour. 



In this botanical garden he saw another species of toxicodendron ; this how- 

 ever was only a shrub, and appeared to be at its full growth. It is the toxico- 

 dendron triphyllum glabrum, T. 6l 1. Hedera trifolia Canadensis Com. q6, vitis 

 sylvestris trifolia. Park. Theat. 1556. This plant is remarkable for having an 

 infinite number of black points scattered on the surface of its leaves, which 

 seemed to be a juice extravasated through the punctures of insects. A leaf 

 being pulled off, a milky juice flowed out, which, the instant it was exposed to 

 the sun, became the finest and deepest black he had ever seen. 



The Abbe thinks that if these two trees of Carolina were of their proper 

 height, they would produce as fine a colour as this last shrub. He put the linen 

 marked with the three black spots into a boil of soap, and it came out without 

 the least diminution of the colour of the spots. When this linen was dried, he 

 threw it into a strong lye of the ashes of green wood; and again it came out 

 without the least alteration of the 3 shades of the spots, produced by the 3 

 plants. He took a handful of the leaves of the toxicodendron glabrum, to try 

 if it might be of use in dying; and made a very strong decoction of it; and 

 while boiling he dipped linen in it: it was tinged green, but, besides its not being 

 a good green, the whole surface was unequally coloured; for several places took 

 a fine black: whence he concluded, that the resinous juice of the internal parts 

 of the plant was the only part capable of producing the desired effect. He was 

 confirmed in this notion, after having let the decoction settle; it first let fall a 

 black resinous juice in small quantity, like the opium of the shops: then a 

 large quantity of a white sediment like a salt, which was quite tasteless on the 

 tongue. The water appeared greenish above, and blackish towards the bottom 

 of the vessel. 



He would have tried some experiments on the roots of this plant; but, as 

 there was only one in the garden, he was afraid of injuring it. Perhaps the 



4 G 2 



