ANACARDIACE^— SUMACH FAMILY 



VELVET SUMACH. STAGHORN SUMACH 



RJiiis Jiirta — RJuis t^phina 



Rhus is by some referred to a Celtic word meaning red ; others 

 derive it from the Greek word meaning run, because the roots 

 spread underground to a considerable distance from the trunk ; 

 still others refer it to a Greek word which indicates its value 

 medicinally. Typhina giant, this being the largest of the North 

 American species. Hirta, hairy. Sumach is derived from Simaq 

 the Arabic name of the plant. 



A small tree with a slender and slightly leaning trunk, with stout 

 spreading and often contorted branches which form a flat head ; 

 oftener it is a shrub spreading by suckers into thickets along fences 

 and in neglected fields. Roots fleshy ; juice milky and viscid, turn- 

 ing black when exposed to the air. Small branches and young stems 

 pithy. Short-li-ved. Prefers calcareous soil. 



Bark. — Smooth, dark brown, sometimes scaly. Branchlets stout, 

 clumsy, coated with long, soft, pink hairs, which change to green and 

 then brown. Branchlets do not become smooth until at least three 

 years old ; in their second year are marked wdth many lenticels. 

 Bark rich in tannin. 



Wood. — Orange color streaked with green ; light, brittle, soft, 

 coarse-grained, with satiny surface. Sp. gr., 0.4357 ; weight of cu. 

 ft., 27.15 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Terminal bud, large, obtuse ; axillary buds, 

 smaller, globular. 



Leaves. — Alternate, unequally pinnately compound, sixteen to 

 twenty-four inches long ; petiole stout, hairy, enlarged at the base, 

 reddish, and surrounds and encloses the leaf bud in its axil. Leaf- 

 lets eleven to thirty-one, two to five inches long, almost sessile, ob- 

 long, rounded or heart-shaped, slightly unequal at base, serrate, 

 acuminate, middle pairs longer than the others ; midrib prominent, 

 and primary veins forking near the margin. They come out of the 



88 



I 



