SUMACH FAMILY 
POISON SUMACH. POISON DOGWOOD 
Rhis vérnix. Rhits venenata. 
A small tree, eighteen to twenty feet high, 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 shrub. Small branches and young stems pithy. 
Bark,—Smooth, light or dark gray, slightly striate. Branchlets are 
smooth, reddish brown, covered with small, orange colored, lenticular 
spots ; later they become orange brown and finally light gray. 
TVood.—Light yellow with brown lines; light, soft, coarse-grained, 
brittle. Sp. gr., 0.4382; weight of cu. ft., 27.31 lbs. 
Winter 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 unequal 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 primary 
veins prominent. In autumn they turn scarlet 
and orange. 
Flowers.—June, July. Dicecious; yellow 
green, borne in long, narrow, axillary panicles 
crowded near the ends of the branches. Bracts 
and bractlets are acute, downy, and fall as the 
flowers open. 
Calyx .—Five-lobed, 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_—Ovary ovoid- globose, one - celled, 
surmounted by three thick spreading styles; 
Fruit of Poison Sumach, ovule solitary. 
Rhus vernix. Fruit.—Drupaceous, globular, white, borne 
in long graceful racemes, often tipped with the 
dark remnants of the styles. Ripens in September and frequently 
hangs on the tree the entire winter. Cotyledons flat, leaf-like. 
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