Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/479

 SUMACH 463 with purple, and marked by orange-colored dots which turn grayish ; the leaves have 7 to 13 leaflets, which are dark green, pointed, and entire on the margins; the greenish yellow Poison Sumach (Ehus venenata). flowers are in loose axillary panicles, and the greenish white fruit hangs in loose clusters on stems 6 or 8 in. long, and remains after the leaves have fallen ; the juice is milky, and dries to a black varnish. This has poisonous characters similar to the preceding, but is much more virulent. The susceptibility to the poi- son varies greatly in different persons ; many can handle the plants without any unpleasant results, while others are seriously affected by touching them, or even passing near them. The poisonous properties of these plants are due to a volatile acid named by its discoverer, Prof. J. M. Maisch, toxicodendric. Its effect is an acute eczematous inflammation of the skin, often accompanied by much swelling. The usual remedies are cooling saline purga- tives and an external application of lead water. The coral sumach (E. metopium), a native of the West Indies, is found in the southernmost parts of Florida; it is a tree 15 to 20 ft. high, with leaves of three to seven thick leaflets, and loose clusters of scarlet berries the size of peas ; this also is poisonous. The sumach of commerce formerly consisted entirely of the imported leaves of rhus coriaria of southern Europe and northern Africa; it greatly resembles in ap- pearance our stag's-horn sumach (B. typhina), and like that forms a small tree ; it is largely cultivated in Sicily, where the suckers are planted in rows about 4 ft. apart, and the shoots are yearly cut back to within a few inches of the ground, the crop for the next year being furnished by the new stems which push from the stumps; the shoots are dried and threshed, the leaves are finally ground be- tween mill stones and bolted, and the powder is put into sacks of 163 Ibs. each for ship- ment; the product is sometimes adulterated 770 VOL. xv. 30 with other leaves, but when pure contains from 30 to 35 per cent, of tannin. Sumach is used for tanning light-colored leathers and in dyeing and calico printing ; it yields with dif- ferent mordants a great variety of tints. Since the civil war the collection and preparation of the leaves of pur native sumachs have assumed considerable importance, especially in Virginia, the headquarters of the industry being at Rich- mond. The plants grow so abundantly in the wild state that cultivation has not been at- tempted ; the smooth, the stag's-horn, and the mountain sumachs are collected indiscriminate- ly, but as the first named is the most abundant, the product consists mainly of that ; the gath- ering begins early in July and continues till frost. The leafy tops of the plants are broken off and carefully dried, the best being that dried in the shade ; when dry it is beaten with sticks, and the leaves are taken to the mill to receive the same treatment as that described for Sicilian sumach. American sumach contains from 15 to 20 per cent, or more of tannin. The Japan wax, or vegetable wax of Japan, is yielded by rhus succedanea, being found as a thick white coating of the seed within the cap- sule. To extract it, the bruised seed vessels are boiled in water and the wax skimmed off as it rises to the top ; it has much the appearance of white wax (bleached beeswax), but is rather more opaque; it melts at about 127, saponi- fies readily, and formed into candles gives a fine clear light ; mixed in proper proportions with paraffine, it makes a candle in appearance closely resembling one of wax. The lacquer of the Japanese is produced by R. vernicifera, a shrub so nearly like our poison sumach in appearance and in poisonous qualities that the two were at one time supposed to be identical. The juice, obtained by wounding the tree, is at first milky, but becomes black on exposure, and is largely used for furniture and various kinds of woodwork. Americans in Japan have be- come seriously poisoned by coming in contact with newly varnished wares. Dr. Jacob Bige- low many years ago demonstrated that our poison sumach affords a similar product. Other and poisonous species afford lacquer to the Chinese Galls (Ehus semialcta). natives of China and India. The singularly shaped Chinese galls are the result of the punc- ture and deposition of the egg of an insect in the leaf stalks and young shoots of a sumach,