POPULAR FLORA. 137 



26. RUE FAMILY. Order EUTACE^. 

 Strong-scented, sharp-tasted, and bitter-acrid plants, the leaves dotted with transparent 

 dots like punctures (which are filled with volatile oil) ; the stamens on the receptacle, as 

 many or twice as many as the petals. 

 Herbs, very strong-scented, with perfect flowers. Stamens 8 or 10. 



Leaves decompound. Flowers yellow : petals concave. Pod roundish, (Ruta) * Rue. 



Leaves pinnate. Flowers white or purple, large : petals slender : stamens long. Pods 



6, flattened, slightly united, (IHctdmmis) *Feaxini;lla. 



Shrubs or trees. Stamens 4 or 5, only as many as the petals. 



Flowers dioecious. Pistils 2 to 5, making fleshy pods with one or two black seeds. 



Leaves pinnate. Stems prickly, (Zanthdxylum) Peickly-Ash. 



Flowers polygamous. Pistil 1, making a 2-oeIled, 2-seeded key, winged all round. 



Leaflets 3. Stems not prickly, (PtHea) Hop-tuee. 



27. SUMACH FAMILY. Order ANACARDIACE^. 

 Trees or shrubs with a milky or a resinous-acrid' juice (in some cases poisonous), and al- 

 ternate leaves : — of which we have only the genus 



Sumach. Rhits. 

 Flowers small, greenish-white or yellowish. Sepals, petals, and stamens 5 ; the latter borne on an en- 

 largement of the receptacle which fills the bottom of the calyx. Styles or stigmas 3, on a one-celled 

 ovary, which makes a one-seeded little stone-fruit with a thin flesh. Fh summer. Nos. 4 and B are 

 poisonous to most people when touched. 



1. Staghoen Sumach. Small tree ; branches and stalks velvety-hairy; leaves pinnate, pale be- 



neath ; flowers and crimson-hairy sour fruit very many, in a great crowded panicle. S. typhina. 



2. Smooth S. Shrub; branches and stalks very smooth, pale: otherwise Uke the last. . R. glabra. 



3. DwAKF S. Shrub 1° to 4° high ; branches and stalks downy ; leaves pinnate, with the stalk wing- 



margined between the shining leaflets ; fruits red and hairy. R. copaWma. 



4. Poison S. or Dogwood. Shrub smooth ; leaves pinnate ; leaflets 7 to 13, entire ; panicles slender 



in the axils ; fruit smooth. Poisonous to most people. Swamps. R. venenata. 



6. Poison Ivy. Smooth ; stems climbing by rootlets ; leaflets 3, large, ovate, either entire, notched, or 



lobed, variable on the same stem. Poisonous like the last. R. ToxicoiUndron. 



6. Venetian S. or Smoke-teee. Shrub, with simple oval or obovate leaves ; branches of the panicle 



lengthening after flowering, and feathered with long hairs, making large light bunches. Cult. 



R. Oo&mm. 

 28. GRAPE FAMILY. Order VITACE^. 



Shrubby plants with a watery and sour juice, climbing by tendrils ; known by having a 

 minute calyx with scarcely any lobes, the petals valvate (edge to edge) in the bud and fall- 

 ing off very early, and the stamens (5 or 4) one before each petal ! — Only two genera 



Grape. Vitis. 

 Petals 5, cohering slightly at the top while they separate at the base, and generally thrown off with- 

 out expanding. Berry with 4 bony seeds. Leaves lobed. Flowers polygamous in the wild species, 

 and having the fragrance of Mignonette. 



