16 
DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
abundant, especially in the limestone regions of Middle Ten- 
nessee. 
ANACARDIACEiE. (Cashew Family.) 
Hhus glabra, L. Smooth Sumach. Shrub 6-18° high, with odd- 
pinnate leaves; leaflets 11-31, whitened beneath, lanceolate- 
oblong, pointed, serrate. The whole plant smooth and glau- 
cous. Flowers in a terminal thyrsoid panicle ; fruit globular, 
clothed with acid crimson hairs. Light, sandy soils, very 
frequent. Not poisonous. Ripe fruit collected in October. 
Rhus venenata, DC. Poison Sumach. Shrub or small tree 6- 
18° high, with smooth odd-pinnate leaves, and polygamous 
flowers in loose and slender axillary panicles; leaflets 7-13, 
obovate oblong, entire. Fruit globular, glabrous, whitish or 
dun-colored ; the stone striate. The most poisonous species ; 
also called Poison Elder. In swamps and bogs, in the Cum- 
berland Mountains. Frequent around Sewanee. Home- 
opathic Pharmacopoeia. The leaves. 
Rhus Toxicodendron, L. Poison Ivy. Climbing by rootlets and 
sometimes low and erect. High climbing plants having usu- 
ally more entire leaves. (Rhus radicans, L.) Flowers in 
loose and slender axillary panicles; fruit globular, glabrous, 
whitish or dun-colored ; the stone striate. Leaflets 3, rhombic- 
ovate, mostly pointed and rather downy beneath, variously 
notched, sinuate or cut-lobed. Very common. FI. June. 
The leaves, collected during flowering season. 
Rhus Canadensis, Marsh. Rhus aromatica, Ait. Fragrant 
Sumach. Shrub 3-7° high, the leaves not unpleasantly 
smelling; soft pubescent when young, becoming glabrate ; 
leaves 3-foliate; leaflets rhombic-obovate, unequally cut- 
toothed, 1-3' long, the terminal one cuneate at base and some- 
times 3 cleft. Flowers pale-yellow, developing in spring, 
long before the leaves. Rocky ground in the limestone re- 
gion, especially in the cedar-barrens of Middle Tennessee. 
FI. May. Collect the bark of the root. 
