Family

Cashew.

Colour

Dull greenish white.

Odour

Sulphurous.

Range

Florida northward.

Time of Bloom

June.

Flowers: axillary; many imperfect; growing in loose panicles. Leaves: pinnately divided into seven to thirteen oblong leaflets that grow on red leaf-stalks. A shrub, often approaching twenty feet high; of soft yellow-brown wood. Juice: resinous. Fruit: smooth; whitish.

The Rhus vernix is a native species and one of the most poisonous of our country. Fortunately there are many who are immune to its evil effects; but to those who are susceptible to such influences, even passing by the shrub is fraught with danger. Its beauty, when it is in the pride of its autumn foliage, acts as a snare to conceal its true nature. It is often gathered and carried home, being held close to the face. Insanity has been known to be an outcome of such recklessness. It takes particular hold upon the system when the pores of the skin are open, as in perspiration. All should study carefully its manner of growth, that when we go to the swamps we shall not mistake it for the harmless sumach that grows by the waysides, in dry soil.