652 ANACARDIACEAE (CASHEW FAMILY) 



1. FLOERKEA Willd. False Mermaid 



Sepals 3. Petals 3, shorter than the calyx, oblong. Stamens 6." Ovaries 3, 

 opposite the sepals, united only at the base ; the style rising in the center ; stig- 

 mas 8. Fruit of 3 (or 1-2) roughish fleshy achenes. Seed anatropous, erect.— 

 Small and inconspicuous herbs, with minute solitary flowers on axillary pedun- 

 cles. (Named for (histav Hcinrich Fl'orke, a German botanist.) 



1. F. proserpinacoides Willd. Leaflets 3-5, lanceolate, sometimes 2-3-cleft. 

 — Marshes and river-banks, w. Que. to Del., Ky., and westw. Apr.-June. — 

 Taste slightly pungent. 



ANACARDlACEAE (Cashew Family) 



TS'ees or shrubs, with resinous or milky acrid juice, dotless alternate leaves, 

 and small often polygamous regular 5-merous flowers, but the ovary l-celled and 

 l-ovtiled, with 3 styles or stigmas. — Petals imbricated in the bud. Fruit mostly 

 drupaceous. Seed without albumen, borne on a curved stalk that rises from the 

 base of the cell. Stipules none. Some species pervaded by an exceedingly ac- 

 tive poisonous principle. 



1. RHtrS L. Sumach 



Calyx small, 5-parted. Petals 5. Stamens 5, inserted under the edge or be- 

 tween the lobes of a flattened disk in the bottom of the calyx. Fruit small and 

 indehiscent, a sort of dry drupe. — Leaves usually compound. Flowers green- 

 ish-white or yellowish. (The old Greek and Latin name. ) 



§ 1. SIjMAC DC. (in part). Flowers polygamous, in a terminal thijrsoid pan- 

 icle ; fruit globular, symmetrical, clothed with acid crimson hairs; stone 

 V smooth ; leaves odd-pinnate. {Not poisonous.) 



\. R. typhina L. (Staghorn S.) Shrub or tree, 1-10 m. high, with orange- 

 colored wood; branches and stalks densely velvety-hairy; leaflets 11-31, pale 

 beneath, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, serrate. (B. hirta Sudworth.) — Dry or 

 gravelly soil, e. Que. to Unt., s. to Ga., Ind., and la. June, July. — Apparently 

 hybridizes with the next species. Forma laciniXta (Wood) Rehder. Leaflets 

 and bracts more or less deeply and laciniately toothed. — A frequent form, at 

 least in some cases pathological and with inflorescence transformed in part into 

 contorted bracts (the Datisca hirta of L.). Forma dissecta Rehder. Leaves 

 bipinnatifid to bipinnate. — An occasional form, now in cultivation. 



2. R. glabra L. (Smooth S.) Smooth glaucous shrub, 6-30 dm. high; 

 leaflets 11-31, whitened beneath, lanceolate-oblong, pointed, serrate. — Common 

 in dry soil, centr. Me., westw. and southw. June, July. Forma laciniata 

 (Carr.) Robinson. Leaves laciniately bipinnatifid to bipinnate. — Pa. and Del. 



3. R. copallina L. (Dwarf S.) Shrub, 0.3-2 or (especially southward) 

 even 10 m. high ; branches and stalks downy ; petioles wing-margined between 

 the 9-21 oblong or ovate-lanceolate often entire leaflets, which are oblique or 

 unequal at the base, smooth and shining above. — Rocky hills, s. Me., southw, 

 and westw. July. 



§2. VENENAtaE Engl. Flowers polygamous, in loose and slender axillary 

 panicles; fruit symmetrical, globular, glabrous or pubescent, ichitish or 

 dun-colored ; the style terminal; stone striate ; leaves odd-pinnate or 'i-foli- 

 olate, thin. {Poisonous.) Toxicodendron Mill. 



4. R. V§rnix L. (Poison S. or Dogwood.) Shrub, 2-5 m. high, smooth or 

 neariy so ; leaflets 7-13, ob ovate-oblong, entire. {B. venenata DC.) — Swamps, 

 w. Me. to w. Ont., and southw. June. — Our most poisonous species; also 

 called Poison Elder. 



5. R. Toxicodendron L. (Poison Ivy, Poison Oak.) Suberect and bushy. 



