Forestry
The leaves may be made a substitute for indigo in dyeing blue, and the flowers are used by the Chinese for dyeing yellow." {Emerson.) Pennsylvania to Iowa and South to Georgia and common in the east along roadsides. X11 . ANACARDIACE^ — SUMAC FAMILY Staghorn or Velvet Sumac, Vinegar Tree. {Rhus hirta) A small tree 10 to 40 feet high. Noted for its red velvety berries in solid bunches and its velvet clad stem whence its name. Leaflets II to 31 and 2 to 5 inches long; the whole leaf 16 to 24 inches long. "The berries are also used in dyeing their own color. Kalm says, that the branches boiled with the berries, afford a black, ink-like tinc- ture." {Emerson.) Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to Florida and west to Arizona. Somewhat like it but qmte smooth is the Smooth or Scarlet Sumac. {R. glabra.) Its berries make a safe and pleasant drink for children and tea of almost any part of the tree is a powerful tonic.
