CASHEW FAMILY. Anacardiacese. 



s 



Poison Sumac "^^ e;xceedingly poisonous shrub with 



Rhi'.-i reueuata compound, smooth, Hghter green leaves. 



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



**""^ but pointed leaflets u'ithout teeth. More 



frequently found in swampj^ land, and irritatingly 



poisonous to the touch. The flowers are whitish green ^i 



and are borne in loose clusters at the angles of the 



leaves ; the}' are also polygamous. Fruit a green-gray i^ 



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 shrubbv character in its 



Poison Ivy i '^ i • • 



j^f^y^ more southern range, but pushing its way 



foxirochndroi, 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 m 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 I 

 ovate-pointed without lobes ; but sometimes the largei ^ 

 leaves are shallowly notched or sinuous at the edge 

 The flowers are whitish green, and with the fruit arej- 

 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. 



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