SUMACH, a genus of plants, belonging to the pentandra class; and in the natural method ranking under the 43rd order, Dumofce. See Botany Index.

1. The coriaria, or elm-leaved sumach, grows naturally in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Syria, and Palestine. The branches of this tree are used instead of oak-bark for tanning of leather; and it is said that the Turkey leather is all tanned with this shrub. It has a ligneous stalk, which divides at bottom into many irregular branches, rising to the height of eight or ten feet; the bark is hairy, of an herbaceous brown colour; the leaves are winged, composed of seven or eight pair of lobes, terminated by an odd one, bluntly sawed on their edges, hairy on their under side, of a yellowish-green colour, and placed alternately on the branches; the flowers grow in loose panicles on the end of the branches, which are of a whitish herbaceous colour, each panicle being composed of several spikes of flowers sitting close to the footstalks. The leaves and seeds of this sort are used in medicine, and are esteemed very refringent and styptic.

2. The typhinum, Virginian sumach, or vinegar plant, grows naturally in almost every part of North America. This hath a woody stem, with many irregular branches, which are generally crooked and deformed. The young branches are covered with a soft velvet-like down, resembling greatly that of a young stag's horn, both in colour and texture, from whence the common people have given it the appellation of stag's horn; the leaves are winged, composed of five or seven pair of oblong heart-shaped lobes, terminated by an odd one, ending in acute points, hairy on their under side, as is also the midrib. The flowers are produced in close tufts at the end of the branches, and are succeeded by seeds, inclosed in purple woolly succulent covers; so that the bunches are of a beautiful purple colour in autumn; and the leaves, before they fall in autumn, change to a purplish colour at first, and before they fall to a feuille-mort. This plant, originally a native of North America, has been long cultivated in the north of Germany, and is lately introduced into Russia. It has got the name of the vinegar plant from the double reason of the young germs of its fruit, when fermented, producing either new or adding to the strength of old weak vinegar, whilst its ripe berries afford an agreeable acid, which might supply the place when necessary of the citric acid. The powerful astringency of this plant in all its parts recommends it as useful in several of the arts. As for example, the ripe berries boiled with alum make a good dye. Rhus dye for hats. The plant in all its parts may be used as a succedaneum for oak-bark in tanning, especially the white glove leather. It will likewise answer to prepare a dye for black, green, and yellow colours; and with martial vitriol it makes a good ink. The milky juice that flows from incisions made in the trunk or branches, makes when dried the basis of a varnish little inferior to the Chinese. Bees are remarkably fond of its flowers; and it affords more honey than any of the flowering shrubs, so that it may prove a useful branch of economy, where rearing these insects is an object. The natives of America use the dried leaves as tobacco.

3. The glabrum, with winged-leaves, grows naturally in many parts of North America; this is commonly titled by the gardeners New England fumach. The stem of this is stronger and rises higher than that of the former; the branches spread more horizontally; they are not quite so downy as those of the last, and the down is of a brownish colour; the leaves are composed of many more pairs of lobes, which are smooth on both sides; the flowers are disposed in loose panicles, which are of an herbaceous colour.

4. The Carolinianum, with sawed winged leaves, grows naturally in Carolina; the seeds of this were brought from thence by the late Mr. Cateby, who has given a figure of the plant in his Natural History of Carolina. This is by the gardeners called the scarlet Carolina fumach; it rises commonly to the height of seven or eight feet, dividing into many irregular branches, which are smooth, of a purple colour, and pounced over with a grayish powder, as are also the footstalks of the leaves. The leaves are composed of seven or eight pair of lobes, terminated by an odd one; these are not always placed exactly opposite on the midrib, but are sometimes alternate. The upper side of the lobes is of a dark green, and their under heavy, but smooth. The flowers are produced at the end of the branches in very close panicles, which are large, and of a bright red colour.

5. The Canadense, with winged spear-shaped leaves, grows naturally in Canada, Maryland, and several other parts of North America. This hath smooth branches of a purple colour, covered with a gray pounce. The leaves are composed of seven or eight pairs of lobes, terminated by an odd one; the lobes are spear-shaped, sawed on their edges, of a lucid green on their upper surface, but hoary on their under, and are smooth. The flowers are produced at the end of the branches in large panicles, which are composed of several smaller, each standing upon separate footstalks; they are of a deep red colour, and the whole panicle is covered with a gray pounce, as if it had been feathered over them.

6. The copallinum, or narrow-leaved fumach, grows naturally in most parts of North America, where it is known by the title of beach fumach, probably from the place where it grows. This is of humbler growth than either of the former, seldom rising more than four or five feet high in Britain, dividing into many spreading branches, which are smooth, of a light brown colour, closely garnished with winged leaves, composed of four or five pair of narrow lobes, terminated by an odd one; they are of a light green on both sides, and in autumn change purplish. The midrib, which sustains the lobes, has on each side a winged or leafy border, which runs from one pair of lobes to another, ending in joints at each pair, by which it is easily distinguished from the other sorts. The flowers are produced in loose panicles at the end of the branches, of a yellowish herbaceous colour.

These six sorts are hardy plants, and will thrive in the open air here. The first and fourth sorts are not quite so hardy as the others, so must have a better situation, otherwise their branches will be injured by severe frost in the winter. They are easily propagated by seeds, which if sown in autumn the plants will come up the following spring; but if they are sown in spring, they will not come up till the next spring; they may be either sown in pots, or the full ground. If they are sown in pots in autumn, the pots should be placed under a common frame in winter, where the seeds may be protected from hard frost; and in the spring, if the pots are plunged into a very moderate hot-bed, the plants will soon rise, and have thereby more time to get strength before winter. When the plants come up, they must be gradually hardened to bear the open air, into which they should be removed as soon as the weather is favourable, placing them where they may have the morning sun; in the summer, they must be kept clean from weeds, and in dry weather watered. Toward autumn it will be proper to stint their growth by keeping them dry, that the extremity of their shoots may harden; for if they are replete with moisture, the early frosts in autumn will pinch them, which will cause their shoots to decay almost to the bottom if the plants are not screened from them. If the pots are put under a common frame in autumn, it will secure the plants from injury; for while they are young and the shoots soft, they will be in danger of suffering, if the winter proves very severe; but in mild weather they must always enjoy the open air, therefore should never be covered but in frost. The spring following, just before the plants begin to shoot, they should be shaken out of the pots, and carefully separated, so as not to tear the roots; and transplanted into a nursery, in rows three feet asunder, and one foot distance in the rows. In this nursery they may stand two years to get strength, and then may be transplanted where they are to remain.

7. Besides these, Linnæus has included in this genus the toxicodendron or poison tree, under the name of rhus vernix or poison-ash. This grows naturally in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New England, Carolina, and Japan, rising with a strong woody stalk to the height of 20 feet and upwards; though in this country it is seldom seen above 12, by reason of the plants being extremely tender. The bark is brown, inclining to gray; the branches are garnished with winged leaves composed of three or four pair of lobes terminated by an odd one. The lobes vary greatly in their shape, but for the most part they are oval and spear-shaped. The foot-stalks become of a bright purple towards the latter part of summer, and in autumn all the leaves are of a beautiful purple before they fall off.

All the species of fumach abound with an acrid milky juice, which is reckoned poisonous; but this property is most remarkable in the vernix. The most distinct account of it is to be found in Professor Kalm's Travels in North America. "An incision (says he) being made into the tree, a whitish yellow juice, which has a nauseous smell, comes out between the bark and the wood." wood. This tree is not known for its good qualities, but greatly so for the effect of its poison; which though it is noxious to some people, yet does not in the least affect others. And therefore one person can handle the tree as he pleases, cut it, peel off its bark, rub it or the wood upon his hands, smell at it, spread the juice upon the skin, and make more experiments, with no inconvenience to himself: another person, on the contrary, dares not meddle with the tree while its wood is fresh; nor can he venture to touch a hand which has handled it, nor even to expose himself to the smoke of a fire which is made with this wood, without soon feeling its bad effects; for the face, the hands, and frequently the whole body, swells excessively, and is affected with a very acute pain. Sometimes blisters or blisters arise in great plenty, and make the sick person look as if he were infected by a leprosy. In some people the external thin skin, or cuticle, peels off in a few days, as is the case when a person has scalded or burnt any part of his body. Nay, the nature of some persons will not even allow them to approach the place where the tree grows, or to expose themselves to the wind when it carries the effluvia or exhalations of this tree with it, without letting them feel the inconvenience of the swelling which I have just now described. Their eyes are sometimes shut up for one, or two, or more days together, by the swelling. I know two brothers, one of whom could without danger handle this tree in what manner he pleased, whereas the other could not come near it without swelling. A person sometimes does not know that he has touched this poisonous plant, or that he has been near it, before his face and hands show it by their swelling. I have known old people who were more afraid of this tree than of a viper; and I was acquainted with a person who, merely by the noxious exhalations of it, was swelled to such a degree, that he was as stiff as a log of wood, and could only be turned about in sheets.

"I have tried experiments of every kind with the poison-tree on myself. I have spread its juice upon my hands, cut and broke its branches, peeled off its bark, and rubbed my hands with it, smelt at it, carried pieces of it in my bare hands, and repeated all this frequently without feeling the baneful effects so commonly annexed to it; but I, however, once experienced, that the poison of the sumach was not entirely without effect upon me. On a hot day in summer, as I was in some degree of perspiration, I cut a branch of the tree, and carried it in my hand for about half an hour together, and smelt it now and then. I felt no effects from it in the evening. But next morning I awoke with a violent itching of my eyelids and the parts thereabouts; and this was so painful, that I could hardly keep my hands from it. It ceased after I had washed my eyes for a while with very cold water. But my eyelids were very stiff all that day. At night the itching returned; and in the morning when I awoke, I felt it as ill as the morning before, and I used the same remedy against it. However, it continued almost for a whole week together; and my eyes were very red, and my eyelids were with difficulty moved during all that time. My pain ceased entirely afterwards. About the same time I had spread the juice of the tree very thick upon my hand. Three days after, it occasioned blisters, which soon went off without affecting me much. I have not experienced any thing more of the effects of the plant, nor had I any desire so to do. However, I found that it could not exert its power upon me when I was not perspiring.

"I have never heard that the poison of this sumach has been mortal, but the pain ceases after a few days duration. The natives formerly made their flutes of this tree, because it has a great deal of pith. Some people assured me, that a person suffering from its noxious exhalations, would easily recover by spreading a mixture of the wood burnt to charcoal, and hog's lard, upon the swollen parts. Some assured, that they had really tried this remedy. In some places this tree is rooted out, on purpose that its poison may not affect the workmen."

The natives are said to distinguish this tree in the dark by its extreme coldness to the touch. The juice of some kinds of sumach, when exposed to the heat of the sun, becomes so thick and clammy, that it is used for birdlime, and the insipidated juice of the poison-ash is said to be the fine varnish of Japan. A cataplasm made with the fresh juice of the poison-ash, applied to the feet, is said by Hughes, in his Natural History of Barbadoes, to kill the vermin called by the West Indians chiggers. Very good vinegar is made from an infusion of the fruit of an American sumach, which from that reason is called the vinegar-tree. The resin called gum copal is from the rhus copallinum.