3o8 THE SUMAC FAMILY. 



plants. They are sessile and oblong-lanceolate. Over its extended range 

 this sumac is generally known, and mostly by its dense, beautiful clusters 

 of crimson velvety drupes. 



R. copallhia, dwarf, or mountain sumac, a most beautiful plant, occurs 

 either as a shrub or small tree and from Florida northward to Maine. Its 

 panicle of creamy or greenish white bloom is spreading, often very large 

 and the drupes are crimson and hairy. Again the long petiole which bears 

 the slender and lanceolate leaflets is winged along its margins, while they, 

 as well as the branches, show much tomentum. In the autumn these deep 

 green and lustrous leaves turn to rich shades of purple. None of the 

 species of sumac which have already been mentioned is poisonous ; and in 

 the mountains of the Southern States, this one more than any other is col- 

 lected in large quantities for the sake of its tannin. 



R. Vermx, poison sumac, elder, ash or dogwood, as this shrub is vari- 

 ously known, is thought by many to be the strikingly beautiful member of 

 the genus. It is also the one to be most carefully avoided, as its juice and 

 all its parts are extremely poisonous. Some marks, therefore, that should 

 be remembered for its identification are its smooth, unwinged leaf stalks, 

 bearing from seven to thirteen entire leaflets, and its axillary panicles of 

 bloom, followed later by greenish white, smooth drupes closely resembling 

 small peas. It is besides exclusively an inhabitant of swamps, ranging 

 from the Gulf region to Canada. 



R. Toxicodendron, poison ivy or poison oak, a climbing vine attaching it- 

 self by means of aerial rootlets, is well known through the south, and bears 

 three-foliate leaves with crenately-lobed and more or less pubescent leaflets 

 and which in the autumn become beautifully coloured. Its small panicle of 

 bloom, developing later into whitish, smooth drupes, is a feature distinctive 

 enough to be remembered, and in thus doing, it should be let alone, as its 

 juice is very poisonous. 



AMERICAN SMOKE=TREE. MIST TREE. CHITTAn=- 



WOOD. {^Platc XCVII.) 



Cotinus Cotinoldcs. 



Flo7vers: minute ; perfect, growing in an open, spreading and terminal panicle, 

 the pedicels long, slender and becoming plumose in fruit. Drupe: hard, smooth. 

 Leaves: large, simple; petioled, oval, or obovate, rounded at the apex and pointed 

 or rounded at the base, entire, dark green and smooth alcove, glabrous or sparingly 

 pubescent underneath, thin. A tree attaining at most forty feet in height. 



Only in certain parts of the South does the American smoke-tree 

 grow wild. At first it was discovered by Nuttall, and subsequently by 



