556 



AKBOHETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



leather, and peeled off afterwards in scales. (Travels, i. p. 177., as quoted in 

 Martini's Miller.) R. radicans was introduced into British gardens in 1G40, 

 and is common in collections in two distinct varieties. One, a dwarf kind, 

 about a yard or less in height, with several upright stems ; and emitting from 

 about the bases of these stems numerous prostrate runners, which extend 

 several, sometimes man} r , feet from the plant, and root into the earth : the other 

 rising to a much greater height, having fewer stems, and being but little prone 

 to emit prostrate runners, but producing, in the upper part, flexile and rather 

 long branches, that climb when contiguous to objects of support; perhaps 

 rather by emitted fibres than by convolution. 

 A 1 11. 2?. (r.) Toxicodendron Lin. The Poison-tree Rhus, or Sumach. 



Identification. Lin. Spec, 381. : Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 127. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 69. ; Don's 



Mill., 2. p. 72. 

 Sjfnonymes. B Toxicodendron guercifblium Michx. Flor. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 182., Pursh Fl. Sept. Amer., 



1. p. 205. ; Toxicodendron pubescens Mill. Diet, No. 2., B. T. serratum Mill. Diet. ; the com 

 * mon Poison Oak, Poison Nut, Poison Vine. 

 Engraving. N. Du Ham., 2. t. 48. ; and our fig. 231. 



Spec. Char., Sec. Leaf of one pair of leaflets, and an odd one, the odd one 

 upon a petiole; all inciso-angulate, pubescent. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 69.) A 

 native of North America. Dr. Hooker remarks, that American botanists are 

 at variance with regard to the distinctive characteristics of R. Toxicoden- 

 dron and R. radicans. Nuttall says, that they are certainly different. Pursh, 

 and most other authors, either unite them, or speak with doubt as to the 

 value of their distinctive characters. (Hook. Bor. Amer., i. p. 127.) 



Description, $c. The general appearance 

 of this shrub closely resembles that of R. ra- 

 dicans, of which, in all probability, it is only 

 a variety. The male flowers, which are pro- 

 duced on separate plants from the female 

 ones, come out from the side of the stalks, 

 on close short spikes, and are of a pale green. 

 The female flowers are produced in loose 

 panicles, agreeing in shape and colour with 

 the males ; but are larger, and have a round- 

 ish germ supporting three very short styles. 

 This species is common in woods, fields, and 

 along fences, from Canada to Georgia, where, 

 like the Rims radicans, it is known by the 

 name of the poison oak, or the poison vine. 

 R. Toxicodendron was introduced into Eng- 

 land in 1640, when it was cultivated in the 

 Bishop of London's garden at Fulham ; it is now frequent in collections. 

 R. Toxicodendron yields a yellowish milky sap, the properties of which, as 

 an indelible ink, are similar to those of the sap of R. radicans. The plant in 

 the garden of the London Horticultural Society, in 1834, formed a bush 5 ft. 

 high, and 5ft. in diameter, after having been 10 years planted; and it is there 

 readily distinguished from R. radicans by its deeply sinuated, or almost 

 pinnatifid, leaflets. 



§ iii. Thezera Dec. 



Sect. Char. Leaf of 3 — 5 sessile leaflets, disposed palmately. Flowers in 

 short racemes. Sexes dioecious. Styles 3, distinct, short. Drupe round- 

 ish, marked at the tip with 3 tubercles; the nut compressed. (Dec. Prod., 

 ii. p. 72.) 

 a 12. R. pentaphy'lla Desf. The fivc-leajleted-leaved Rhus, or Sumach. 



/,/■ rU&catkm. D«fC Fl Atl., 1. p. 267. t. 77. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 72. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 75. 



%ynonynu». rthamrius' pentaphyllus Jacq. O/js., 2. p. 27. ; B. Thezera (from thexas, a point, in 

 r< Cereocc to the prickles), Vers. Erich., I. p. 325., Tin. Pug., 1. p. 7. 



l. if niving. Boee. Sic, t. 21. 



$m - Qior.,SfC. Branches bearing spines. Petiole indistinctly winged. Leaflets S — 5, linear-lance- 

 tt the tip broader, obtuse, entire, or having 3 teeth. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 72.) A shrub, growing 

 to the heighl Of 10 fl , a native of Sicily and Harbary, and introduced in 181(>. The fruit is acidu- 

 lous and eatable, and trx- bark dyei red, and is used in tanning leather. 



