In barren places, Canada! to Florida! and west to Arkansas! 0. Highlands
of the Hudson River, Dr. Barratt! Mountains of Pennsylvania, Dr.
Darlington. Red River, Louisiana, Dr. Hale! y. Tampa Bay, Florida,
Dr. Burrows ! July-Aug.—Stem 3-8 feet high, branched ; juice resinous.
Veins of the upper surface of the leaves pubescent. Wing of the petiole
usually broad, interrupted at the leaflets. Peduncles downy. Drupes
small, compressed, acid.
5. R. venenata (DC.) : glabrous; leaflets 7-13 (membranaceous), obovateoblong,
entire, abruptly acuminate; panicles slender, in the axils of the uppermost
leaves; drupes subglobose, smooth, greenish-white.—DC. prodr. 2.
P; 68 ; Beck, bot. p. 76; Hook.l. c .; Darlingt. fl. Cest. ed. 2. p. 207. R.*
vernix, Linn, (in part); Michx. ! Ji. 1. p. 183; Ell. 1. cl: Bigel. med. bot.
1. p . 96. t 10. j
In swamps, Canada and Northern States ! to Georgia ! west to Alexandria,
Louisiana, Dr. Hale ! June.—A shrub, 8-15 feet high, very poisonous to
the touch with most persons. Leaves often slightly pubescent beneath. Flowers
greenish, mostly dioecious, small. Drupe as large as a pea: nut broader
than long, compressed, ridged. Cotyledons oval, rather thick and fleshy.—
The juice of this shrub is a varnish, like that of the Japanese plant (R.
vernicifera, DC. 1. c.), from which it has only recently been distinguished.
(See Bigel. 1. c.)—Poison Sumach, Poison Elder, &c.
6. R. Toxicodendron (Linn.) : stem erect, decumbent, or climbing by radicles
; leaves 3-foliolate, somewhat pubescent; leaflets (membranaceous)
broadly oval or rhomboid, acuminate, entire or toothed, the lateral ones inequilateral
; pqnicles racemed, axillary, subsessile; drupes subglobose, smooth.
Michx..! Jl. 1. p. 183; Torr.! Jl. 1. p. 323. R. Toxicodendron & radi-
cans, L in n .; Nutt.; DC. <fc.
a. not climbing ; leaves entire, or variously and irregularly sinuate-toothed
or lobed.—R. Toxicodendron, Linn. ; Nutt. $c. R. Toxicodendron fl. quer-
cifolium, Michx. 1. c.
0. climbing; leaves more commonly entire or nearly so.—R. radicans,
Linn. ; Bot. mag. t. 1806 ; Bigel. med. bot. 3. p. 19, t. 42 ; DC. 1. c. R.
Toxicodendron a. vulgare, Michx. 1. c. R. Toxicodendron fl. radicans,
T o r r.! fl.l.c . ’
y . leaves oval-oblong; fruit smaller.—R. Toxicodendron y. microcarpon,
Michx. 1. c.
In rather shady usually damp places, Canada ! (on the Saskatchawan,
Hooker) to Georgia! west to Arkansas ! & the Rocky Mountains ! N. W.
America, Douglas (e x Hooker). May-June.—A low shrub, or climbing;
poisonous like the preceding. Leaflets large, petiolulate. Flowers mostly
dioecious, greenish. Drupes nearly the size of the preceding, pale chestnut-
color.—Poison-Ivy, Poison-Oak, tf-c.
7. R. diversiloba: nearly glabrous; stem scarcely climbing, with short
leafy branches; leaves 3- (rarely 5-) foliolate; leaflets very obtuse, in the pistillate
plant slightly, in the staminate rather deeply pinnalely lobed; lobes
very obtuse, the incisions acute ; panicles axillary, racemose; drupes subglobose.—
R. lobata, Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 127, t. 46, & in bot. Beechey, p.
137 (the male), not of Poir. R. Toxicodendron, Hook, f Am. in bot.
Beechey, l. c. (the pistillate plant) ?
Borders of woods &c., Oregon, Douglas, Nuttall! & California, Beechey,
Nuttall!—“ The sterile and fertile flowers in this species (which is very
near R. Toxicodendron) present some notable differences. The sterile, which
is figured by Hooker, has rather deeply lobed leaflets, sometimes in fives,
and larger flowers: in the fertile the leaflets are almost entire or slightly
lobed and the flowers considerably smaller, so that it might readily be taken
for a distinct species. The fruit is white, somewhat pubescent and gibbous.”
Nutt.—The panicles are often shorter than the petioles.
§ 3. Flowers dioecious or polygamous: disk glandular, deeply 5-lobed
(lobes opposite the petals): drupe globose, villous: nut smooth, compressed;
jlowers in short aments, preceding the leaves. Leaves 3-foliolate.
—L obadium, Raf.
8. R. aromatica (Ait.) : leaves pubescent when young (at length coriaceous
and often glabrous); leaflets sessile, rhomboid-ovate, unequally and in-
cisely toothed, the terminal one narrowed at the base.—Ait. Kew. ( ed. 1.) 1.
p. 367 ; Turpin, in ann. mus. 5. p. 445. t. 30 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 205; Ell. sk.
1. p. 364; Hook. 1. c. R. suaveofens, Ait. 1. c. R. Canadense, Marsh, ar-
bust.7 ; DC. 1. p. p. 73. Lobadium aromaticum, Raf. in jour. phys. 89.
p. 98. Turpinia, Raf. in Desv. jour. bot. 2. p. 170. Schmalzia, Desv. 1. c.
In dry rocky places, from the Saskatchawan River (Hooker) to Georgia!
west to Arkansas ! April-May.—A small aromatic shrub. Flowers small,
yellow, on short pedicels, from axillary aments formed during the previous
summer. Drupes the size of a small pea, light red, more or less hispid,
slightly compressed, agreeably acid. This plant varies greatly in the degree
of pubescence of the leaves. R. suaveolens of Aiton differs merely in the
leaves being almost glabrous, so that we have no hesitation in referring it to
the present species.
9. R. trilobata (Nutt.! mss.): “ leaves glabrous, small; lateral leaflets
obovate, obtuse, 3-lobed at the apex or nearly entire ; terminal leaflet cuneiform,
3-lobed at the summit, the middle lobe sometimes 3-toothed.
“ In the central chain of the Rocky Mountains.-—A low leafy shrub ; the
leaves much smaller than in R. aromatica: terminal leaflet broad, i-1 inch
in length; lateral ones smaller. Drupes scarlet, acid; the nut flat, scarcely
striate.” Nutt.
§4. “ Flowers perfect [or polygamous): calyx subcampanulate: disk
fleshy, entire: stamens 5-10 : styles united, very short: drupe globose,
with a thin and rather dry resinous aromatic p u lp : nut orbicular,
compressed, even. Leaves simple, coriaceous, entire: flowers in paniculate
racemes, terminal and in, the axils o f the upper leaves.—Malosma ”
Nutt.
10. R. laurina (Nutt.! mss.): “ very glabrous; leaves elliptical or elliptic-
ovate, obtuse or emarginate, often mucronate, on rather long petioles ; panicles
crowded; stamens 5; filaments very short.
“ On bushy plains, near St. Barbara, California.—A low spreading tree or
large shrub, much branched and very leafy, exhaling to a considerable distance
an aromatic odor, something like that of the Bitter Almond, (whence
the name, from valdfl &, oayos, odor.) Leaves very pale, pinnately
but not prominently veined, about 2 inches long, often slightly emarginate at
both ends: -petioles more than 4 an inch in length. Flowers very small and
numerous. Calyx fleshy; segments obtuse. Petals oblong, a little longer
than the calyx. Stigmas 3, minute.—To this subgenus, or rather perhaps
genus, belongs the Llithi of Fuillee, or Laurus caustica of Molina, the
R.hus ? caustica, Hook. Am. bot. Beechey’s voy. p. 15. t. 7, a species which
differs from ours in its larger decandrous flowers, and much shorter petioles:
we are not informed whether the fruit of that species yields an aromatic
odor. Mauria, H. B. K. also differs but little from the plants of this curious
section; and both possess the venomous properties of Toxicodendron.” Nutt.
—The R. ? caustica, Hook, f Am. is described as dioecious; but the accompanying
plate represents, among others, one apparently perfect flower.