Poison wood 



6ii 



fruit remain on the tree through the winter; the fruits are grayish white or yellow- 

 ish, nearly globular or somewhat longer than thick, about 4 mm. in diameter, 

 shining, a little flattened; the stone is longitudinally grooved. 



The wood is yellowish, light and soft, and of no economic value; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.44. The leaflets become orange to scarlet in the autumn, and 

 thus very conspicuous, causing much poisoning to people who gather autumn 

 leaves indiscriminately. The sap furnishes a varnish similar to that commercially 

 obtained from the Japanese Lacquer-trec, Toxicodendron verniciferum (de Can- 

 dolle) Shafer, {Rhus vernicifera de CandoUe), which closely resembles our plant. 



Other local common names for this tree are Swamp sumac, Thunderwood, and 

 Poisonwood. 



III. POISONWOOD 



GENUS METOPIDM PATRICK BROWNE 



Species Metopium Metopitun (Linnaeus) Small 



Rhus Metopium Linnaeus 



OISONWOOD, Bum-wood, or Hog-gum, is a monotype, no other 

 species of Metopium being known. It inhabits southern Florida, the 

 Bahamas, Porto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica, occurring also in Central 

 America. Its sap is dangerously poisonous to the touch, and some 

 people arc said to be affected by mere 

 proximity to the plant; a purgative gum- 

 resin exudes from the bark. The tree 

 attains a height of 13 or 14 meters, with 

 a trunk sometimes 6 dm. thick; the 

 branches spread widely. 



The bark is thin, splitting when old 

 into large scales; it is red-brown outside 

 and orange within. The young twigs are 

 stout, red-Jjrown and smooth, the buds 

 pointed, their scales hairy-fringed. The 

 leaves, borne near the ends of twigs, are 

 alternate, smooth, firm in texture, un- 

 equally pinnate, 3 dm. long or less, with 

 from 3 to 7 stalked leaflets, which are 

 ovate to nearly orbicular or obovate, 2.5 

 to 10 cm. long, pointed, notched or blunt 

 at the apex, the base narrowed, truncate 

 or heart-shaped, the upper surface bright green and shining, the under side dull 

 green, the margin entire, sometimes sUghtly revolute; the stalks of the leaflets vary 

 from I to 3 cm. in length. The flowers are small but very numerous, in loose, 

 upright axillary panicles as long as the leaves or longer; they open from February 



Fig. 562. — Poisonwood. 



