Flora Medica

ANACARDIACKS;.Trunk straight, covered with grey scabrous bark ;the bark of theyounger parts smooth, light ash-coloured its ;inner substance containsin crevices, a quantity of white, soft, almost insipid gum. Branchletsnumerous, spreading. Leaves about the extremities of the branchletsalternate, stalked, somewhat wedge-shaped or oblong-obovate, roundedat the apex, entire, firm above, pretty smooth, yet harsh, and whitishunderneath ;from 9 to 18 inches long, and from 4 to 8 broad. PetiolesIA or 2 inches long, half round. Panicles terminal, very large, composedof many simple spikes ;that of the male tree much more slender,but as large, or larger, and branched. Bracts many, small, deciduous.Flowers numerous, small, of a dull greenish yellow colour. Receptacleerect, fleshy, pear-shaped, smooth, when ripe, yellow, about the size ofthe nut. Fruit a single nut, resting upon the receptacle, cordate,flattened on both sides, smooth, shining, black ;the pericarp composedof two laminae ;the inner one hard, the outer one less so, and leathery;between them are cells which contain a black corrosive resinous juice.The juice is of a pale milk colour till perfectly ripe, when it becomesblack. Male flowers on a separate tree, smaller than the hermaphrodite.Filaments 5, the length of the petals. Anthers much larger thanin the hermaphrodite. Pistil 0, or small and abortive, and in form of asemi-globular, hairy, glandular body. Wood contains much acridjuice which renders it dangerous to those who work upon it. Receptacleseaten like apples when roasted. The pure black acrid juiceemployed externally by the natives of India to remove rheumatic pains,aches and sprains: a little being rubbed over the parts affected ;andis an efficacious remedy except in such constitutions as are subjectto inflammations and swellings. Universally used to mark linen.Employed by the Telinga physicians mixed with garlic and othersubstances in almost every sort of venereal complaint. Bark mildlyastringent.RHUS.Flowers polygamous or hermaphrodite. Calyx small, 5-partite,persistent. Petals 5, ovate, spreading, inserted under themargin of the disk aestivation imbricative. Stamens : 5, insertedinto the disk, equal, free. Disk orbicular. Ovary sessile, ovateor globose, 1 -celled : ovule solitary, suspended from a longishcurved funiculus rising from the base of the cell. Styles 3 fromthe top of the ovary, distinct or combined. Stigmas distinct,obtuse or capitate. Fruit almost a dry drupe nut :bony 1 -celled.Seed solitary, suspended from a funiculus that rises from thebase to the apex of the cell. Embryo inverted : cotyledons foliaceous: radicle opposite to the hilum, bent downwards alongthe margin of the cotyledons. Shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate,simple or compound. Peduncles axillary or terminal.W. and A.588. R. venenata DC. prodr.ii. 68 R. vernix Linn. sp.pi. 380. Bigelow med. hot. i. t. 10. Common in North Americain swamps and meadows ; vulgar name " Poison tree, Poisonwood, Poison ash, Poison sumach."Trunk from 10 to 30 feet high and 1 to 5 inches in diameter, branchingat top, and covered with a pale greyish bark. The ends of the* 284