刺果毒漆藤 ci guo du qi teng

Rhus toxicodendron Linnaeus var. hispida Engler, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 433. 1900; R. intermedia Hayata.

Woody climbers; branchlets brown, striate, at first ferruginous pubescent. Petiole 5-10 cm, yellow pubescent, channeled above; leaf blade 3-foliolate; lateral leaflets sessile to subsessile, blade oblong to ovate-elliptic, 6-13 × 3-7.5 cm, base oblique, rounded, margin entire, terminal leaflet with pubescent 0.5-2 mm petiolule, blade obovate-elliptic to obovate-oblong, 8-15 × 4-8.5 cm, base attenuate, apex acute or shortly acuminate; leaflet blades glabrous adaxially, pubescent along midrib and lateral veins abaxially, with reddish brown tufts of hair in axils of lateral veins. Inflorescence paniculate, ca. 5 cm, with yellowish brown hairs; floral subtending bracts ca. 2 mm, pubescent. Pedicel ca. 2 mm, hairy; flowers yellowish green. Calyx glabrous, lobes ovate, ca. 1 mm. Petals oblong, ca. 3 mm, revolute at anthesis, with inconspicuous brown featherlike venation pattern. Stamens equal to petals in length; filaments linear, ca. 2 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm. Disk glabrous. Ovary globose, ca. 0.5 mm in diam. Drupe oblique-ovoid, ca. 5 × 6 mm, yellow at maturity, with ca. 1 mm bristles; mesocarp thick, waxy. Fl. May, fr. Jun-Aug.

● Hill forests; (600-)1600-2200 m. Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan.

The name Rhus orientalis (Greene) C. K. Schneider (Toxicodendron orientale Greene) has been misapplied to this taxon.

The remaining numerous subspecies and varieties of Toxicodendron radicans are distributed in North America.