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 vellow, 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 cotiiioidcs, 

 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. 



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