Part 44

South to Georgia; west to Minnesota and Missouri.

=Habit.=--A shrub, or small tree, rarely exceeding 25 feet in height; trunk 8-10 inches in diameter; branches straggling, thickish, mostly crooked when old; branchlets forked, straight, often killed at the tips several inches by the frost; head very open, irregular, characterized by its velvety shoots, ample, elegant foliage, turning in early autumn to rich yellows and reds, and by its beautiful, soft-looking crimson cones.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk light brown, mottled with gray, becoming dark brownish-gray and more or less rough-scaly in old trees; the season's shoots densely covered with velvety hairs, like the young horns of deer (giving rise to the common name), the pubescence disappearing after two or three years; the extremities dotted with minute orange spots which enlarge laterally in successive seasons, giving a roughish feeling to the branches.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds roundish, obtuse, densely covered with tawny wool, sunk within a large leaf-scar. Leaves pinnately compound, 1-2 feet long; stalk hairy, reddish above, enlarged at base covering the axillary bud; leaflets 11-31, mostly in opposite pairs, the middle pair longest, nearly sessile except the odd one, 2-4 inches long; dark green above, light and often downy beneath; outline narrow to broad-oblong or broad-lanceolate, usually serrate, rarely laciniate, long-pointed, slightly heart-shaped or rounded at base; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--June to July. Flowers in dense terminal, thyrsoid panicles, often a foot in length and 5-6 inches wide; sterile and fertile mostly on separate trees, but sterile, fertile, and perfect occasionally on the same tree; calyx small, the 5 hairy, ovate-lanceolate sepals united at the base and, in sterile flowers, about half the length of the usually recurved petals; stamens 5, somewhat exserted; ovary abortive, smooth; in the fertile flowers the sepals are nearly as long as the upright petals; stamens short; ovary pubescent, 1-celled, with 3 short styles and 3 spreading stigmas.

=Fruit.=--In compound terminal panicles, 6-10 or 12 inches long, made up of small, dryish, smooth-stoned drupes densely covered with acid, crimson hairs, persistent till spring.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England. Grows in any well-drained soil, but prefers a deep, rich loam. The vigorous growth, bold, handsome foliage, and freedom from disease make it desirable for landscape plantations. It spreads rapidly from suckers, a single plant becoming in a few years the center of a broad-spreading group. Seldom obtainable in nurseries, but collected plants transplant easily.

The cut-leaved form is cultivated in nurseries for the sake of its exceedingly graceful and delicate foliage.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with staminate flowers. 3. Staminate flower. 4. Branch with pistillate flowers. 5. Pistillate flower. 6. Fruit cluster. 7. Fruit.

=Rhus Vernix, L.=

Rhus venenata, DC.

DOGWOOD. POISON SUMAC. POISON ELDER.

=Habitat and Range.=--Low grounds and swamps; occasional on the moist slopes of hills.

Infrequent in Ontario.

Maine,--local and apparently restricted to the southwestern sections; as far north as Chesterville (Franklin county); Vermont,--infrequent; common throughout the other New England states, especially near the seacoast.

South to northern Florida; west to Minnesota and Louisiana.

=Habit.=--- A handsome shrub or small tree, 5-20 feet high; trunk sometimes 8-10 inches in diameter; broad-topped in the open along the edge of swamps; conspicuous in autumn by its richly colored foliage and diffusely panicled, pale, yellowish-white fruit.

=Bark.=--Trunk and branches mottled gray, roughish with round spots; branchlets light brown; season's shoots reddish at first, turning later to gray, thickly beset with rough yellowish warts; leaf-scars prominent, triangular.

=Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, roundish. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; rachis abruptly widened at base; leaflets 5-13, opposite, short-stalked except the odd one, 2-3 inches long, 1-2 inches wide, smooth, light green and mostly glossy when young, becoming dark green and often dull, obovate to oval or ovate; entire, often wavy-margined; apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse; base mostly obtuse or rounded; veins prominent, often red; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--Early in July. Near the tips of the branches, in loose, axillary clusters of small greenish flowers; sterile, fertile, and perfect flowers on the same tree, or occasionally sterile and fertile on separate trees; calyx deeply 5-parted, divisions ovate, acute; petals 5, oblong; stamens 5, exserted in the sterile flowers; ovary globose, styles 3.

=Fruit.=--Drupes about as large as peas, smooth, more or less glossy, whitish; stone ridged; strongly resembling the fruit of R. Toxicodendron (poison ivy).

=Horticultural Value.=--No large shrub or small tree, so attractive as this, does so well in wet ground; it grows also in any good soil, but it is seldom advisable to use it, on account of its noxious qualities. It can be obtained only from collectors of native plants.

=Note.=--This sumac has the reputation of being the most poisonous of New England plants. The treacherous beauty of its autumn leaves is a source of grief to collectors. Many are seriously affected, without actual contact, by the exhalation of vapor from the leaves, by grains of pollen floating in the air, and even by the smoke of the burning wood.

It is easily distinguished from the other sumacs. The leaflets are not toothed like those of R. typhina (staghorn sumac) and R. glabra (smooth sumac); it is not pubescent like R. typhina and R. copallina (dwarf sumac); the rachis of the compound leaf is not wing-margined as in R. copallina; the panicles of flower and fruit are not upright and compact, but drooping and spreading; the fruit is not red-dotted with dense crimson hairs, but is smooth and whitish. Unlike the other sumacs, it grows for the most part in lowlands and swamps.

In the vicinity of Southington, southern Connecticut, Rhus copallina is occasionally found with a trunk 5 or 6 inches in diameter (C. H. Bissell).

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Fruiting branch.

AQUIFOLIACEAE. HOLLY FAMILY.

=Ilex opaca, Ait.=