ao8 
RHUS TOXICODENDRON. 
Pubescent Poison Oak, Sumach.*' 
Class Pentandria. — Order Digyj^ia. 
Nat. Ord. Dumosje, Linn. Terebintace^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx five-parted. Petals five. Berry one 
seed. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ternate. Leaflets petioled, angled, 
pubescent. Stem rooting. 
This species of sumach is a native of North America, and very 
common in Carolina. It was first cultivated in England about the 
year 1640. It is a small tree, seldom exceeding three feet in height; 
the root is woody, fibrous, horizontal, and sends up many woody 
stems, which divide into slender branches, covered with a greyish 
brown bark ; the leaves are supported upon long petioles, and arise 
alternately upon the branches ; composed of three ovate, pointed 
leaflets, about three inches long and two broad ; the terminal leaflet 
is considerably larger than the two lateral, which last are neariy 
sessile: they are sometimes angular, and sometimes entire, of a deep 
shining green colour above, hoary beneath ; the fructification is 
dioecious; the male flowers are produced in close short spikes, and 
arise from the sides of the stalks ; the calyx is composed of five 
orate, smooth, caducous leaves ; the corolla consists of five greenish 
petals, twice as long as the calyx ; the stamens are shorter than the 
corolla, attached to the receptacle, and support yellow, ovate an- 
thers, excavated by a longitudinal groove ; the female flowers are 
produced in loose panicles; the pistillum is composed of a roundish 
hairy germen, supporting a thick, short, smooth style, crowned with 
three sessile stigmas, one of which is usually larger than the others ; 
the fruit is a striated berry, containing one seed. In this country 
* Fig. a. the male flower. 6. Thefroit. c. Magnified anthers, d. The pistlMnm. 
