. North American trees : being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies . Trees. Poison wood 6ii fruit remain on the tree through the winter; the fruits are grayish white or yellow- ish, nearly globular or somewhat longer than thick, about 4 mm. in diameter, shining, a little flattened; the stone is longitudinally grooved. The wood is yellowish, light and soft, and of no economic value; its specific gravity is about The leaflets become orange to scarlet in the autumn, and thus very conspicuous,
. North American trees : being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies . Trees. Poison wood 6ii fruit remain on the tree through the winter; the fruits are grayish white or yellow- ish, nearly globular or somewhat longer than thick, about 4 mm. in diameter, shining, a little flattened; the stone is longitudinally grooved. The wood is yellowish, light and soft, and of no economic value; its specific gravity is about The leaflets become orange to scarlet in the autumn, and thus very conspicuous, causing much poisoning to people who gather autumn leaves indiscriminately. The sap furnishes a varnish similar to that commercially obtained from the Japanese Lacquer-trec, Toxicodendron verniciferum (de Can- dolle) Shafer, {Rhus vernicifera de CandoUe), which closely resembles our plant. Other local common names for this tree are Swamp sumac, Thunderwood, and Poisonwood. III. POISONWOOD GENUS METOPIDM PATRICK BROWNE Species Metopium Metopitun (Linnaeus) Small Rhus Metopium Linnaeus OISONWOOD, Bum-wood, or Hog-gum, is a monotype, no other species of Metopium being known. It inhabits southern Florida, the Bahamas, Porto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica, occurring also in Central America. Its sap is dangerously poisonous to the touch, and some people arc said to be affected by mere proximity to the plant; a purgative gum- resin exudes from the bark. The tree attains a height of 13 or 14 meters, with a trunk sometimes 6 dm. thick; the branches spread widely. The bark is thin, splitting when old into large scales; it is red-brown outside and orange within. The young twigs are stout, red-Jjrown and smooth, the buds pointed, their scales hairy-fringed. The leaves, borne near the ends of twigs, are alternate, smooth, firm in texture, un- equally pinnate, 3 dm. long or less, with from 3 to 7 stalked leaflets, which are ovate to nearly orbicular or obovate, to 10 cm. long, pointed, notched
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