96 MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
ber of the last-named genus, with edible seeds, P. meaicana, syn. P. 
texana, fide Standley, is native in western Texas. 
SUMACS AND SUMAC ALLIES (RHUS SPP.) 
At a conservative estimate there are about 18 species of this genus 
in the West.?_ The true western sumacs—i. e., Rhus in a restricted 
sense, with pinnate leaves and dense terminal panicles of scarlet, 
berrylike fruits, of which Rocky Mountain sumac, R. cismontana, 
ranging from Nebraska to Montana and Arizona, may be regarded 
as typical—embrace about five species wholly destitute of forage 
value. Sumacs are not lacking in economic interest. The eastern 
species are employed to some extent in the tanning industry, but 
little has been done to render these plants as serviceable as they no 
doubt might be. 
In the Southwest are three species of Rhus, having thick simple 
evergreen leaves, and belonging to the genus Lobadium of some 
authors, which includes Lithrza and Neostyphonia. All are shrubs 
or sometimes small trees, and are worthless or poor browse except 
perhaps occasionally for goats. Very closely related to this group 
is another, nearly always simple-leaved species, Utah sumac (R. 
utahensis, syn. Schmaltzia afinis and 8. simplicifolia), occurring in 
sagebrush and juniper-pifon types from southern Utah to Arizona 
and southeastern California; it is often abundant and furnishes local 
browse for cattle, goats, and sheep when more palatable species are 
scarce or wanting. 
LEMONADE SUMACS, OR LEMITAS (RHUS SPP., SYN. SCHMALTZIA) 
The most valuable of the sumacs from a forage viewpoint are the 
lemonade sumacs, sweet-sumacs, or lemitas (genus Schmaltzia of 
some authors), also known as lametas and three-lobed sumacs, of 
which about six or eight valid species occur in the West. The acid 
berries of these shrubs are eaten by Indians and occasionally by 
whites, and a rather pleasant beverage can be made from at least 
some of them. Their slender twigs are very important in basketry 
work among the Indians, which is probably the reason that many 
people call them squawbush or squawberry. The Indians also 
powdered the dry berries as a lotion for smallpox. 
Lemonade sumac (Rhus trilobata), by far the commonest and 
most widely distributed species of this group, ranges from Alberta 
to Missouri, northern Mexico, and southern Oregon, and is often 
abundant on dry rocky hillsides between about 3,700 and 8,000 feet. 
The palatability of this species to cattle, goats, and sheep varies from 
worthless or slight to good; in general it seems to be of most value 
in southern Arizona and perhaps also in southwestern Colorado, in 
Utah, as a rule, being largely untouched by livestock. 
Emory sumae (/?. emoryi), or velvet squawbush, with densely 
yellow velvety herbage, occurs in southern Arizona and New Mexico, 
in dry valleys and arroyos, on foothills and lower mountain slopes, 
21In this discussion the thick and mostly simple-leaved sumacs (genera Lithraea, 
Lobadium, and Neostyphonia of some authors), Rhocidium microphyllum, and the sweet- 
sumacs or lemitas (Sechmaltzia) are all merged in the genus Rhus, but the poison oak, 
ivy, sumac aggregation (Toxicodendron) is held distinct. Numerous specific segregates 
of the Schmaltzia group have been proposed by some botanists, 
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