18'2 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO IJoJ. 



of Staining cottons and linens of a black colour was known before, or quoting 

 the authors in which he says it is mentioned, contents himself with telling the 

 Society, that this American toxicodendron is the same plant with the true varnish- 

 tree of Japan; and that calicoes are painted with the juice of this shrub. In my 

 letter to Mr. Webb, I have endeavoured to show, that notwithstanding the au- 

 thority of Dr. Dillenius, and the authors that have followed him, it does not 

 appear, from Dr. Koempfer's description of this Japan plant, that it can be the 

 same with our American one. 



The design then of this paper, is to lay before this Society some further reasons, 

 why these plants cannot be the same ; and that even if they were the same, Mr. 

 Miller has produced no authority to show that this juice was ever made use of 

 for this purpose abroad ; with some remarks on his reply to my letter, in which 

 he obliges me to be more particular than I intended, in explaining some errors, 

 which I find he has run into. 



In my letter to Mr. Webb, I have pointed out the exact description which 

 Koempfer has given us of the leaves of this plant, showing how much they 

 differ from our American one: but now' I shall mention some observations that 

 escaped me before, and which, I think, will give us a clearer proof of this 

 matter. Koempfer then informs us, that this Japan varnish-tree, or sitz-dsju, 

 is a tree, not a shrub; and this author, it is well known, is remarkably exact in 

 the description of his Japan plants, making the necessary distinctions between a 

 shrub, an arborescent shrub, and a tree. He then goes on to explain the manner 

 of its growth: and tells us, that it grows with long sappy shoots, very luxuriantly, 

 to the height of a sallow or willow-tree, which we may reasonably allow to be 

 from 20 to 30 feet; whereas this Carolina pennated toxicodendron, as Mr. Miller 

 tells us in his Dictionary, 6th edit, in folio, is a shrub, and seldom rises above 

 5 feet high with us : and many people, who have been in North America, agree, 

 that it is but a slow grower there, and is one of the shrubby underwoods of that 

 country: so that, allowing it to grow even double the height it does here, it is 

 still but a shrub, in comparison with the other. Further, while Dr. Dillenius 

 was warm with this supposed discovery, of our having got the true Japan var 

 nish-tree in America, attempts were made there, by intelligent persons under his 

 direction, to procure this varnish after the manner of Koempfer; but without 

 success, as I am assured by persons of that country now here, with whom the 

 Doctor corresponded. 



Let us now consult the growth of the Carolina and Virginia sumachs, or 

 rhuses, in our nursery-gardens, and compare them with this little shrubby toxi- 

 codendron, and we shall find, that even in this cold climate nature keeps her 

 regular proportionable pace in the growth of vegetables of the same country. 

 Let us obser\'e the growth of some of these rhuses, and we shall fiqd that great 



