550 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



Pliny, who mentions it as an Apennine shrub, under the name of C'oggygria. 

 In England, it was cultivated by Tradescant, and it is described by Gerard as 

 an excellent and most beautiful plant, " with the leaves of the capparis, and 

 the savour of the pistachia." As an ornamental shrub, it deserves a place 

 in every garden where there is room to allow it to extend itself on every side. 

 A dry loam suits it best; and it is propagated by pegging down the branches 

 flat to the ground, and strewing earth over them, through which young shoots 

 rise up, which root at the base, and may be removed in autumn. There are old 

 plants of it at Syon ; and a very fine one at Deepdene, the diameter of the head 

 of which is nearly 20 ft. : but the largest in England is at Enville, in Stafford- 

 shire, where it has attained more than double that size. Plants, in the Lon- 

 don nurseries, are 50s, a hundred, or 6d. each; at Bollwyller, plants are 

 I franc each. 



§ ii. Sumach Dec. 



Sect. Char. Leaves iinpari-pinnate; leaflets more than 3 in the leaves of 

 each of the first 6 species of this section. Flowers in panicles, poly- 

 gamous, dioecious, or hermaphrodite. 



*£ 2. R. typhi v na L. The Fever Rhus, or Stag's Horn Sumach. 



Identijicatim. Lin. Spec, 380. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 67. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 70. 



Synonymes. R. virginiana Bauh. Pin.,\y. 517. ; Virginian Sumach. 



Engravings. Duh. Arb. Ed. Nov., 2. t. 47. ; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 17 and t. 18. ; and our fig. 224. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaf of 8- — 10 pairs of leaflets, and the odd one, that are 



lanceolate, acuminate, serrated, hairy beneath. Petiole and branches hairy, 



(Dec. Prod., ii. p. 67.) A native of North America. Fruit hairy, purple. 



De Candolle has characterised two forms of this species as follows : — 



If R. t. 1 arborescens. — Its form that of a tree; its height between 10 ft. 



and 25 ft. high; leaf slightly downy beneath. (Willd. Enum., 323.) 

 it R. /. 2 frutescens. — Its form shrubby ; its height between 2 ft. and 

 10 ft.; and its leaf downy and v/hitish beneath. 

 Description, $c. Rhus ty- 

 phina, in British gardens, is 

 either a large shrub or a low 

 tree, with a woody stem, and 

 a head composed of many 

 irregular branches, generally 

 crooked and deformed. The 

 young shoots are covered 

 with a soft velvet-like down, 

 resembling that of a young 

 stag's horn, both in colour 

 and texture ; whence, and 

 probably also from the crook- ^ 

 edness of the branches, the 

 common name. The leaves 

 are large, and very conspicuous in autumn, before they drop off, when they 

 change to a purplish or yellowish red. The flowers are produced in close 

 spikes at the ends of the branches ; and the female ones are followed by 

 seeds enclosed in woolly, simple, succulent covers, which are very conspicu- 

 ous in autumn. The plant is found in a wild state in almost every part of 

 North America ; particularly in Carolina and Virginia. It was cultivated 

 by Parkinson in 1029, and is now common in British gardens. There are large 

 specimens of it at Syon, where it has attained the height of 15 ft. as a tree; 

 and in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, and in the garden of the London 

 Horticultural Society; in each of which places it has attained the height of 

 10 ft. or \2 ft. In some parts of North America, the wood is used for tan- 

 ning leather, and the roots prescribed as a febrifugal medicine. In British 

 gardens it well deserves a place, from its large and beautiful foliage, and 

 its striking colour in autumn ; its spikes of dark red fruit; and the singularity 

 of its branches in winter. As the plant is of open irregular growth, and not 



