VINES AND SHRUBS 



there, as in New York and New Jersey. It nourishes in salt 

 air and in every kind of soil. By means of tiny rootlets on its 

 stem it climbs to the very tops of high trees, enveloping their 

 trunks in a mass of hard-stemmed, 3-leaved foliage; or it 

 covers fences, stopping at the posts for extra decorative 

 effects. It carries itself flauntingly and gaudily, in fall 

 faintly imitating the Virginia creeper, with sickly hues of red 

 and yellow. When it cannot climb it masses itself on the 

 ground. The juice of the plant is thick and yellowish, becoming 

 black after being exposed to the air. It produces an exceed- 

 ingly irritating eruption upon the skin of persons susceptible 

 to the rhus poison, often dangerous and difficult to heal. 

 Even of persons who are " immune " to this poison, if the juice 

 of the plant is brought in contact with the blood, abscesses 

 and painful sores will almost certainly be produced. It 

 should be rooted out with hoe and plow by every self- 

 respecting land-owner. (See illustration, p. 386.) 



Poison Dogwood. Poison Sumach 



R. Vernix is the most poisonous plant of our country, and it pos- 

 sesses, moreover, the fatal gift of beauty, often alluring unsus- 

 pecting persons in the autumn to fill their arms with its brilliantly 

 colored leaves. With the swamp maple, it adds, most of all 

 plants, to the glory of the swamps. Insanity and even fatal re- 

 sults have been known to follow the handling of its branches. 

 Many people are wholly immune to this plant's evil effects, while 

 others are poisoned simply by passing the shrub. Especially if 

 the pores of the skin are opened by perspiration, it is dangerous 

 to stand near the poison sumach. Ignorance in such a case is 

 culpable, and yet how few have really taken pains to learn this 

 common plant, growing by our roadsides and along our favorite 

 wood-paths! A few simple things are all that it is necessary to 

 remember. First, the leaf-stalks are red, with from 7 to 13 sessile, 

 pointed, feather- veined leaflets rather far apart from one another. 

 Second, the blossoms are a dull greenish white, in loose panicles 

 from the leaf -axils, never terminal. Third, the fruit is a white, 

 not red, berry. Fourth, the bark is gray, and the height of the 

 shrub varies from 8 to 15 feet. Lastly, it grows in swampy 

 places. (See illustration, p. 388.) 



Stag-horn Sumach 



R. typhina is a tall shrub, sometimes becoming a tree. The 

 ends of the irregular branches, covered with a soft, velvety down, 

 give the name stag-horn. Flowers, greenish yellow, with a central 



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