SUMACH FAMILY 



POISON SUMACH. POISON DOGWOOD 



Rhus vernix. Rhiis venenhta. 



A small tree, eighteen to twenty feet high, with acrid, milky, poison- 

 ous juice which turns black on exposure. The head is round and 

 narrow and the branches slender and rather pendulous ; often it is 

 simply a shrub. Small branches and young stems pithy. 



Bark. Smooth, light or dark gray, slightly striate. Branchlets are 

 smooth, reddish brown, covered with small, orange colored, lenticular 

 spots ; later they become orange brown and finally light gray. 



Wood. Light yellow with brown lines ; light, soft, coarse-grained, 

 brittle. Sp. gr., 0.4382; weight of cu. ft, 27.31 Ibs. 



Winter Buds. Terminal bud is much larger than the axillary 

 buds, all are acute, dark purple. 



Leaves. Alternate, pinnately compound, 

 seven to fourteen inches long, borne on slender 

 reddish petioles. Leaflets seven to thirteen, 

 obovate, or oblong, three to four inches long, 

 slightly unequal or contracted at the base, en- 

 tire, acute or rounded at apex, short petiolate 

 except the terminal one which sometimes has 

 a stalk an inch in length. They come out of 

 the bud orange colored and downy, when full 

 grown are smooth, dark green and shining 

 above, pale beneath; midrib and primary 

 veins prominent. In autumn they turn scarlet 

 and orange. 



Flowers. June, July. Dioecious ; yellow 

 green, borne in long, narrow, axillary panicles 

 crowded near the ends of the branches. Bracts 

 and bractlets are acute, downy, and fall as the 

 flowers open. 



Calyx. Five-lobed, lobes acute, short. 

 Corolla. Petals five, acute, yellow green. 

 Stamens. Five, with long slender filaments 

 and large orange colored anthers. In the fer- 

 tile flowers short and rudimentary. 



Pistil. Ovary ovoid -globose, one -celled, 

 surmounted by three thick spreading styles; 

 ovule solitary. 



Fruit. Drupaceous, globular, white, borne 

 in long graceful racemes, often tipped with the 



dark remnants of the styles. Ripens in September and frequently 

 hangs on the tree the entire winter. Cotyledons flat, leaf-like. 



94 



Fruit of Poison Sumach, 

 Rhus vernix. 



