PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 53 



G. strictmn^ox yellow avens, has flowers that grow in panicles. 

 They are innocent enough looking ; but it is from their pistils 

 that the prickles come out in the late season to test the temper 

 of those wandering in their vicinity. 



POISON SUMAC. POISON ELDER. 



Rhus Veriiix. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Sumac. Dull greenish white. Sulphurous. Florida northward. June. 



Flowers: axillary; many imperfect; growing in loose panicles. Leaves: 

 pinnately divided into seven to thirteen oblong leaflets that grow on red leaflet- 

 stalks. A shrub, often approaching twenty feet high ; of soft yellow-brown 

 wood. Juice: resinous. Fruit: smooth ; [whitish.) 



The Rhus vernix is a native species and one of the most 

 poisonous of our country. Fortunately there are many who 

 are immune to its evil effects ; but to those who are susceptible 

 to such influences, even passing by the shrub is fraught with 

 danger. Its beauty, when it is in the pride of its autumn fo- 

 liage, acts as a snare to conceal its true nature. It is often 

 gathered and carried home, being held close to the face. In- 

 sanity has been known to be an outcome of such recklessness. 

 It takes particular hold upon the system when the pores of the 

 skin are open, as in perspiration. All should study carefully 

 its manner of growth, that when we go to the swamps we shall 

 not mistake it for the harmless sumach that grows by the way- 

 sides, in dry soil. 



AMERICAN JACOB'S LADDER. 



Polei7ibnium Va?t BruniicE. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Phlox. Bluish purple. Scentless. Ver7tiont to Maryland. I\Iay-July. 



Flowers : loosely clustered in panicles. Calyx : five-lobed. Corolla : with 

 five rounded lobes, Slamens: five, exserted. Fislil : one. Lea^els : opposite ; 

 ovate ; almost sessile. Stem: erect ; leafy to the top ; glabrous. Rootstock : thick. 



Prof. Britton, by whom this species was named, tells us that 

 "it differs from the Old World Polemonium coeruleum in its 



