58 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
So Splendid are these leaves, that every year, they. Siren- 
like, lure many victims, if not to destruction, at least to much 
misery. For it is a serious thing to be poisoned, and the 
susceptible are never exempt. Indeed, one poisoning seems 
to render them more liable to another. Certain persons are 
affected by mere proximity to the shrubs. The smoke of the 
bush when burning will poison others. It is said, indeed, that 
a few people cannot handle gum copal, or anything coated 
with shellac, the copal being made from an oriental Rhus, which 
is poisonous. 
Many remedies have been suggested or tried. Chlori- 
nated soda, applied as a wash is good. A quick application 
of alkaline water, or a weak solution of alcohol may be ef- 
fective. A regulation of the diet, too, is of advantage. The 
poison is probably acid and needs to be washed off or neu- 
tralized. Experience shows the plants to be especially danger- 
ous when in flower, or, at least, this is a very common belief. 
Elaborate experiments have been performed at the Harvard 
Medical School and elsewhere, to determine the nature of the 
poison and its best treatment. 
Rhus venenata is much more dangerous than R. toxi- 
codendron, but is is a curious fact that many persons, like the 
writer, are exempt from either. The great botanist, Michaux, 
however, warns people, that even those who had for half a 
life time considered themselves exempt, might finally succomb. 
This may depend upon changed conditions of the system. As 
is well known, there are certain persons who cannot handle 
strawberries or wild carrot. Fortunate is the botanist who, 
like Gallio, ^'cares for none of these things." 
The flowers of both our poisonous species of Rhus, come 
early in the season. They are greenish, and not unlike those 
of the grape, to which the family (Anacardiaceae) , is nearly 
allied. The fruit in the poison species is gray, while innocent 
sumacs have red berries. 
