POPULAK FLORA. 137 



26. RUE FAMILY. Order RUTACEiE. 

 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 



5, flattened, slightly united, {Dictdmnus) *Fkaxinei.la. 



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



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



Leaves pinnate. Stems prickly, (Zanihdxylum) Pkicicly-Ash. 



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



Leaflets 3. Stems not prickly, (Plelea) Hop-teee. 



27. SUMACH FAMILY. Order ANACARDIACEiE. 

 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. Rhus. 

 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. Fl. summer. Nos. i and 6 are 

 poisonous to most people when touched. 



1. Staghorn 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. R. typhiTia. 



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



3. D WAKF 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. Poi'soratms to most people. Swamps. R.veneruda. 



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. Toxicodendron. 



6. Venetian S. or Smoke-tree. 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. Codnus. 

 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. VUh. 

 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. 



