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Poison Sumach

Rhus venenata. Cashew Family.

A shrub from six to eighteen feet high. Leaves.--Divided into seven to thirteen oblong entire leaflets. Flowers.--Greenish or yellowish-white; in loose axillary clusters; some perfect, others unisexual. Fruit.--Whitish or dun-colored; small, globular.

The poison sumach infests swampy places and flowers in June. In early summer it can be distinguished from the harmless members of the family by the slender flower-clusters which grow from the axils of the leaves, those of the innocent sumachs being borne in pyramidal, terminal clusters. In the later year the fruits of the respective shrubs are, of course, similarly situated, but, to accentuate the distinction, they differ in color; that of the poison sumach being whitish or dun-colored, while that of the other is crimson.