Handbook of Treies of the Noetheen States and Ca: 



511 



The Poison Sumach is nenerall}- stigmatized 

 as being the most poisonous American tree. 

 It rarely attains the height of 20 or 30 ft. and 

 its short trunk, occasionally 8 or 10 in. in 

 diameter, forks near the ground and sends vip 

 a few large branches which form a wide open 

 top. It is much more common as a large 

 shrub than a tree. Fortunately its home is 

 exclusivelj' swamps and the low mirj' banks of 

 streams, as though nature Avere making an 

 effort to keep it in places least frequented by 

 human beings, who are easy victims to its 

 poisonous emanations. Yet, in strange con- 

 tradiction, it is given a foliage and pearl-like 

 fruit of ran beauty which tempt the unsus- 

 pecting, and then it poisons him who touches, 

 unless he happens to be immvine as some peo- 

 ple are.2 It is occasionally found skirting 

 tlie borders of ponds, where in autumn the 

 glory of its brilliant red and orange tints '^ 

 doubled by reflection in their waters, and the 

 beauty of such a scene is rarely forgotten. 



Its wood is light, a cubic foot when abso- 

 lutely dry, weighing 27.30 lbs., tough and of a 

 golden yellow color streaked with tints of 

 brown and green and with clear white sap- 

 wood.^ 



Leaves 7-14 in. long and with 7-1.3 short-petio- 

 late ovato-oblong or obovate entire leaflets (the 

 terminal one often 2 or 3-lobed) obtuse or acute 

 and unequal at base and mostly acuminate at apex, 

 lustrous dark green above, paler and prominently 

 veined beneath. Flowers (.Tune) yellow-green, Vs 

 in. across, in long loose axilary panicles. Fruit 

 ripens in September and ol'ten hangs from leafless 

 branches in the winter, in long loose panicles ; 

 drupe compressed globose, about % in. in di- 

 ameter, shining ivory white or grayish ; stone 

 striated. 



1. Syn. Rhus venenata deC. 



2. Drs. Seward and Wakeley, of Orange, N. J., 

 tell me that they find in the fluid extract of 

 Qrindelia robusta an almost infallible remedy 

 against the poisoning of Poison Sumach, Ivy, and 

 the allied species. They administer it both as 

 an internal remedy (in doses of one drop every 

 two hours) and as a topical applicant. 



