
PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 53 
G. strictum, or yellow avens, has flowers that grow in panicles. 
_ They are innocent enough looking; but it is from their pistils 
that the prickles come out in the late season to test the temper 
of those wandering in their vicinity. 
POISON SUrFIACH. POISON ELDER. 
Kthis vérnix. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Cashew. Dull greenish white. Sulphurous. tlorida northward. June. 
Flowers: axillary; many imperfect; growing in loose panicles. Leaves: 
pinnately divided into seven to thirteen oblong leaflets that grow on red 
leaf-stalks. A shrub, often approaching twenty feet high; of soft yellow- 
brown wood. /wce: resinous. “rut; smooth; whitish. 
The Rhus vernix-is a native species and one of the most 
poisonous of our country. Fortunately there are many who 
are immune to its evil effects; but to those who are susceptible 
to such influences, even passing by the shrub is fraught with 
danger. Its beauty, when it is in the pride of its autumn fo- 
liage, acts as a snare to conceal its true nature. It is often 
gathered and carried home, being held close to the face. In- 
sanity has been known to be an outcome of such recklessness. 
It takes particular hold upon the system when the pores of the 
skin are open, asin perspiration. All should study carefully 
its manner of growth, that when we go to the swamps we shall 
not mistake it for the harmless sumach that grows by the way- 
sides, in dry soil. 
AMERICAN JACOB’S LADDER. 
Polemontum Van Brintie. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Phlox. Bluish purple. Scentless. Vermont to Maryland. May-July. 
flowers : loosely clustered in panicles. Calyx : five-lobed. Corolla : with 
five rounded lobes. Stamens: five, exserted. stil: one. Leaflets: opposite ; 
ovate ; almost sessile. Sem: erect; leafy tothe top; glabrous. ootstock : thick. 
Prof. Britton, by whom this species was named, tells us that 
“it differs from the Old World Polemonium cceruleum in its 

