SUMACH FAMILY 



POISON SUMACH. POISON DOGWOOD 



KlnU vcnnx. KJtiis I'cnciicila. 



A small tree, eighteen to twenty feet hiL;h, with acrid, milky, poison- 

 ous juice which turns black on exposure. The head is round and 

 narrow and the branches slender and rather pendulous; often it is 

 simply a shruli. Small branches and young stems pithy. 



Bark. — Smooth, light or dark gray, slightly striate. Branchlets are 

 smooth, reddish Ijrown, covered with small, orange colored, lenticular 

 spots ; later they become orange brown and finally light gray. 



Wood. — Light yellow with brown lines ; light, soft, coarse-grained, 

 brittle. Sp. gr., 0.4382 ; weight of cu. ft., 27.31 lbs. 



li'i/i/t'!- Buds. — Terminal bud is much larger than the axillary 

 buds, all are acute, dark purple. 



Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound, 

 seven to fourteen inches long, borne on slender 

 reddish petioles. Leaflets seven to thirteen, 

 obovate, or oblong, three to four inches long, 

 slightly unec|ual or contracted at the base, en- 

 tire, acute or rounded at apex, short petiolate 

 except the terminal one which sometimes has 

 a stalk an inch in length. They come out of 

 the bud orange colored and downy, when full 

 grown are smooth, dark green and shining 

 above, pale beneath ; midrib and primaiy 

 veins prominent. In autumn they turn scarlet 

 and orange- 



Flowers. — June, July. Dioecious ; yellow 

 green, boi'ne in long, narrow, axillary panicles 

 crowded near the ends of the branches. Bracts 

 and bractlets are acute, downy, and fall as the 

 t^owers open. 



Caly.x . — Five-lobcd, lobes acute, short. 

 Corolla. — Petals five, acute, yellow green. 

 Stamens. — Five, with long slender filaments 

 and large orange colored anthers. In the fer- 

 tile flowers short and rudimentary. 



Pistil. — 0\'ary ovoid - globose, one -celled, 

 surmounted by three thick spreading styles; 

 ovule solitary. 



Fruit. — Drupaceous, globular, white, borne 

 in long graceful racemes, often tipped with the 

 dark renmants of the styles. Ripens in September and frequently 

 hangs on the tree the entire winter. Cotyledons flat, leaf-like. 



94 



Fruit of Poison Sumach, 

 Rhus I'cniix. 



