The _leaves_ are alternate, pinnately compound and one to three feet
long. The leaflets number from 11 to 41, are smooth, dark green above,
paler beneath, turning a clear yellow in autumn.
The _flowers_ appear soon after the leaves are full grown, on different
trees, borne in large upright panicles. They are small yellow-green in
color with 5 petals and 10 stamens. The staminate flowers have a
disagreeable odor.
The _fruit_, ripening in October but remaining on the tree during the
winter, is a one-seeded samara, spirally twisted, borne in crowded
clusters.
The tree of heaven is useful for landscape planting, succeeding in all
kinds of soils and all kinds of growing conditions. It makes a rapid
showing and is practically free from all diseases and insect injury.
+SMOOTH SUMAC+ _Rhus glabra_ L.
THE smooth sumac is usually a tall shrub but occasionally it develops as
a tree 20 to 25 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 6 to 10 inches. A few
large spreading branches form a broad, flat, open head. The twigs are
smooth and glabrous and have a thick, light brown pith with small round
winter buds.
[Illustration: SMOOTH SUMAC