PLATE XVII
WOOD SORREL.—O. Acetosella.
Our name sorrel is from the Greek for sour and has reference to the acrid juice of the plant. The delicate leaflets “sleep” at night; that is, they droop and close one against another.
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.
Staghorn Sumach.
Rhus typhina. Cashew Family.
A shrub or tree from ten to thirty feet high. Leaves.—Divided into eleven to thirty-one somewhat lance-shaped, toothed leaflets. Flowers.—Greenish or yellowish-white, in upright terminal clusters, some perfect, others unisexual, appearing in June. Fruit.—Crimson, small, globular, hairy.
This is the common sumach which illuminates our hill-sides every autumn with masses of flame-like color. Many of us would like to decorate our homes with its brilliant sprays, but are deterred from handling them by the fear of being poisoned, not knowing that one glance at the crimson fruit-plumes should reassure us, as the poisonous sumachs are white-fruited. These tossing pyramidal fruit-clusters at first appear to explain the common title of staghorn sumach. It is not till the foliage has disappeared, and the forked branches are displayed in all their nakedness, that we feel that these must be the feature in which the common name originated.