Descriptive Flora 



127 



Rhus trilobata Nutt. Three-leaved Sumac. Skunk-bush. 

 (Schmaltzia trilobata [Nutt,] Small.) "Lemita." 



Spreading shrub with palmately trifoliolate leaves. Leaf- 

 lets 3, wedge-shaped, incised or scalloped above the middle, the 

 middle leaflet usually largest (about 1" long). Flowers small, 

 whitish, in dense clusters, blossoming with or before the leaves 

 appear. Petals 5. Fruits small, red, inedible, stony. March 

 and April. Usually rocky hillsides. Indians use the root bark 

 for the red-brown strands of their baskets. 



Rhus lanceolata A. Gray. Lance-leaved Sumac. 



(Schmaltzia lanceolata [A. Gray] Small.) 



Shrub, 3 to 12' high, with once-pinnately compound leaves 

 having a winged rachis and unequal-sided leaflets, and showy, 

 much branched, somewhat pyramidal terminal clusters of numer- 

 ous very small white flowers. Leaves compound, alternate. 

 Leaflets 13 to 19, unequal-sided, entire or indistinctly toothed, 

 iy 2 to 3" long. Rachis narrowly winged. Sepals 5, minute. 

 Petals 5, white, about ty? long, curled back against the pedicel. 

 Stamens 5, exserted, the anthers yellow and showy. Flowers 

 followed by large, pyramidal clusters of dark red, hairy stone 

 fruits that terminate the many branches, which together with the 

 crimson leaves make the shrub in fall one of our most conspicuous 

 and decorative plants. Blossoms in late June, July and August. 

 Limestone hills of the Edward's Plateau. 



Rhus radicans L. Poison Ivy. "Hiedra". 



A poisonous, thrifty, climbing, woody vine that climbs and 

 creeps by means of aerial rootlets that anchor themselves by 

 disks to the wood, often ascending to the tops of tall trees. Quite 

 as often it takes a lowgrowing bushy form. Leaves compound, 

 strongly resembling Box elder, which has paler foliage. Petioles 

 long. Leaflets 3, variously and coarsely toothed, the middle 

 leaflet largest. Flowers small, greenish or greenish-yellow, 

 fragrant, in dense clusters that grow out of the axils of the 

 leaves. Fruits resemble clusters of tiny, white grapes and hang 



