TREFOIL SUMACH. FRAGRANT SUMACH. SQUAW-BERRY.

Rhus Canadensis, var. trilobata, Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.

Shrubs two to five feet high; spreading. Leaves.—Three-foliolate. Leaflets.—Sessile; wedge-shaped; six lines to an inch long; pubescent, becoming smooth. Flowers.—Yellowish; minute; borne in short, scaly-bracted spikes preceding the leaves. Fruit.—Viscid; reddish; two or three lines in diameter; pleasantly acid. Syn.—R. aromatica, var. trilobata, Gray. Hab.—Dakota to Texas, and west to California and Oregon.

The dense foliage of these little bushes has a strong odor, which is not altogether agreeable, while their small fruit has a pleasant acid taste, and is much relished by the Indians.

Dr. Edward Palmer writes that this shrub furnishes the Indians of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California with one of the most valuable of basket materials. The young twigs, which are much tougher than those of the willow, are soaked, scraped, and split. The baskets are then built up of a succession of small rolls of grass, over which the split twigs are closely and firmly bound. The baskets thus made are very durable, will hold water, and are often used to cook in, by dropping hot stones into them till the food is done. The wood exhales a peculiar odor, which is always recognizable about the camps of these Indians, and never leaves articles made from it.

This is grown in England as an ornamental shrub.