EHUS 



SUM AGE ORDER 



EHUS 319 



suits it best. It may be increased by 

 cuttings of the ripened shoots placed in 

 light soil under a handhght, and also by 



seeds sown in cold frames as soon as ripe. 

 In Japan it is said this plant is highly 

 valued for its medicinal virtues. 



XXXVI. ANACARDIACEiE— Sumach Order 



An order containing 450 species of trees or shrubs with a resinous milky juice. 

 Leaves usually alternate, pinnate, trifoliolate or simple. Flowers hermaphro- 

 dite, or polygamous, 'dioecious, or unisexual, usually regular. Calyx 3-7-cleft 

 or parted. Petals 3-7, rarely absent, usually free, stamens often twice as 

 many as petals, rarely equal in number, or very numerous. 



RHUS (Sumach). — A genus containing 

 120 species of trees or shrubs abounding 

 in resinous or caustic juice. Leaves alter- 

 nate, simple, 1-3-foliolate or oddly pinnate, 

 Flowers very small, polygamous, in axil- 

 lary and terminal panicles. Calyx 4-6- 

 parted ; lobes equal imbricate. Petals 4-6, 

 equal spreading. Stamens 4, 5, 6, or 10, 

 free, inserted at the base of the ringed disc. 

 Fruit a small dry compressed drupe. 



Culture and Propagation. — The 

 Sumachs are mostly useful for shrubberies, 

 some of them like Rhus Cotinus being 

 useful for rough places or under trees. 

 They are excellent for planting in rather 

 dry spots, as they are not so much affected 

 by the absence of moisture as are many 

 other shrubs. They thrive in ordinary 

 garden soil, and are increased chiefly by 

 ■cuttings of the roots or ripened portions 

 of the stems, or by layers. 



R. aromatica (B. sua/aeolens). — A N. 

 American shrub 8 ft. high, with downy 

 leaves when young, thickish when old, and 

 sweet-scented when crushed ; leaflets 3, 

 rhomboid-ovate, unequally cut andtoothed. 

 Flowers about April and May, pale yellow, 

 in catkin-like spikfes before the leaves 

 appear, afterwards followed by red 

 roundish fruits about the size of Currants. 

 The variety trilohata is distinguished by 

 its smaller leaves, the leaflets of which are 

 distinctly lobed near the apex, and the 

 odour is not so pleasant as in the type. 



Culture dc. as above. 



R. copallina. — A somewhat downy N. 

 American shrub 1-7 ft. high. Leaves with 

 winged stalks, and 9-21 oblong or ovate 

 lance-shaped often entire leaflets, smooth 

 and shining dark green above, downy 

 beneath. Flowers in summer, greenish- 

 yellow, in dense clusters at the ends of the 

 shoots. The female flowers are borne on 

 one plant, the male ones on another. 



Culture dc. as above. In its native 



country this species grows 25-40 ft. high, 

 and its foliage assumes beautiful tints. 



R. Coriaria. — A native of S. Europe, 

 15-20 ft. high, with hairy leaves, composed 

 of 11-15 elliptic, large, bluntly toothed 

 leaflets becoming purple-red in autumn. 

 Flowers in summer, whitish-green. This 

 species furnishes the Sumach of commerce, 

 but is very rarely met with in cultivation. 



Culture do. as above. It is hardy 

 perhaps only in the mildest parts of the 

 kingdom. 



R. cotinoides {Cotinus cimericanus). 

 This is the ' Chittam Wood ' of the South 

 United States, where it assumes the pro- 

 portions of a small tree 25-35 ft. high, 

 with a trunk over 1 ft. in diameter. It is 

 only a, small shrub in cultivation, and 

 very much resembles the European 

 a. Cotinus in appearance, but is not so 

 bushy in habit. The large roundish and 

 undivided leaves form the chief beauty of 

 the plant, especially in the autumn when 

 they assume beautiful shades of scarlet 

 and crimson suffused with tints of yellow 

 and orange. 



Culture dc. as above. As this species 

 is very scarce even in its native country, 

 care should be taken to see that the fol- 

 lowing species is not supplied in its place. 



R. Cotinus (Smoke Plamt ; Wig Tree ; 

 Venetian Sumach). — A graceful slender- 

 stemmed shrub 6-8 ft. high, native of S. 

 Europe, with obovate or circular, shortly 

 stalked leaves about 1-3 in. long. Flowers 

 n June and July, pale purple or flesh- 

 coloured outside, in loose panicles, the 

 pedicels becoming hairy and lengthened 

 after flowering. The variety pendula has 

 drooping instead of erect branches, and 

 atropurpurea is remarkable for the purple 

 hues of the leaves, young shoots, and 

 flower clusters. 



Culture dc. as abovoi This species 



