AN'ACAR'DIA'CE2E (Gk. 'Ova, ono, [like] unto eapdia, kardia, heart), SUMACH FAMILY. An order of dicotyledonous plants consisting mostly of trees and shrubs, with acrid, resinous, or milky sap, in some instances very irritating and poisonous. The leaves are usually alternate, rarely opposite; flowers small, polygamous, dice %ions or perfect: calyx small, usually five parted: petals of the same number as the sepals; stamens as numerous as the petals and opposite them, or twice as many, rarely fewer; ovaries of the staminate flowers one-celled, of the pistil late flowers three to seven-celled, with a single ovule in each cell; fruit generally a drupe; seeds bony. endosperm little or none; cotyledons fleshy. This family embraces about 50 genera and 500 species, most of which occur in the tropics of both hemispheres, the only prominent genus indigenous to the United States being Rhus; the Sumach and Poison oak (q.v.). The
genera of the family are grouped into a number of sections, the more important of which are: Mangifer.r, of which Mangifera and Anacardimn are the principal genera; Spondiefe, represented by Spondias; Rhoide:e, the chief genera of which are Pistacia, Rims, Cotinus, and Schinus; and Semecarpefe. represented by Semecarpus. The entire order abounds in resins and tannins, fur nishing the source whence some of the most val uable lacquers, varnishes, and tanning materials are obtained, while some species produce whole some and pleasant fruits, some of which are extensively grown in the tropics. For detailed economic descriptions, see CASHEW :STITT ; PISTA CIA ; HOG PLUM; POISONOUS PLANTS: MANGO; SUMACH, and other names mentioned above.