Rhus — Sumach. 195 



Dark Continent extending to the Cape of Good Hope 

 while on the other hand it reaches to equally northern ex- 

 tremes. Many sorts are tender, while others are compara- 

 tively indifferent to heat and cold, as well as to soils and 

 other horticultural conditions. A few are exceedingly 

 poisonous, in this respect rivalling the famous upas tree, 

 but nearly all are not only harmless but ornamental. 

 These sumachs, as they are popularly called, are prized 

 for their beauty of foliage and their peculiar flowers and 

 fruitage ; and when rightly handled they may fill an im- 

 portant niche in garden and park planting. 



R. aromatica — fragrant sumach — is a low -growing 

 shrub with a spreading head, and rising five to eight feet. 

 The leaves are slightly pubescent in their early stages, 

 thickening with age, and when crushed give out an agree- 

 able odor. They are compound, with three pairs of 

 leaflets unequally cut and toothed. The flowers are pale 

 yellow, in spikes closely clustered, and appearing in ad- 

 vance of the foliage in April and May. Though an 

 interesting species, it is not the most showy of its class in 

 either leaf, flower, or fruit. 



R. typhina, or, as it is commonly called, the staghorn 

 sumach, is a much more ornamental shrub, and is also of 

 American origin, being quite frequently found growing in 

 the borders of woods and on dry and infertile hillsides. 

 In fact, it does not appear to be very particular as to soils 

 and surrounding conditions. The branches are blunt and 

 clumsy-looking, usually thickly covered with hairs, and al- 

 most wholly lacking in symmetry of arrangement. For this 

 reason the shrub is best planted among other sorts such 



