SUMACH FAMILY 



and pistillate flowers are produced upon different indi 

 viduals and appear in May. These flowers are small, 

 yellowish green, and borne in ample, loose, terminal 

 panicles branching from the axils of linear leaf-like 

 bracts. The petals are small ; the stamens are five ; 

 the styles are three. 



After the blooming season is past the bush begins to 

 show that personal and peculiar character which has 

 made it a garden favorite for two thousand years. A 

 wonderful change comes over the little pedicels or 

 stalks of the fertile flowers. They were at first half or 

 three-quarters of an inch long and now they begin to 

 lengthen and at the same time to develop a thick 

 growth of soft hairs. This is especially the case with 

 the pedicels which bear no fruit. The result is that 

 each fruiting panicle becomes a loose, fluffy aggrega- 

 tion of plumose threads, and takes on a charming range 

 of color, pale green, dull yellow, lurid red, and so 

 covers the head and so overpowers the foliage that the 

 bush becomes a billowy mass, each single spray not 

 improperly likened to a puff of smoke. This " smoke" 

 is in its best condition during June and July. 



The plant fruits but sparingly ; at the end of some 

 of the feathery pedicels, by searching, a little, greenish 

 brown, one-sided drupe may be discovered almost lost 

 among the clustering threads. 



There is an American Smoke-tree, Cotinus cotinoides, 

 of southwestern habitat ; reaching its best development 

 in Missouri and Indian Territory. As an ornamental 

 plant it is not the equal of our cultivated species. 



