Class IX. Order I. 97 



ENNEANDRIA. 



MOJVOGYJVM. 



117. LAURUS. 

 LAURUS BENZOIN. L. Fever bush. Spice wood. 



Leaves obovate, entire, annual ; flowers dioe- 

 cious. 



Syn. LAURUS PSEUDO-BENZOIX. Mich. 



An aromatic shrub with a flavour resembling Benzoin. Ear- 

 ly in May before the leaves appear, it puts out tufts of small, 

 yellow flowers from the sides of the branches. The leaves are 

 oval or inversely ovate, pale underneath, and somewhat pubes- 

 cent. Berries red. It grows in low situations at Brighton and 

 elsewhere, but it is not very common in the environs of Boston. 



LAURUS SASSAFRAS. L. Sassafras tree, 



Leaves deciduous, entire, and lobed, flowers di- 

 oecious. Mich. 



In favourable situations the Sassafras rises into a pretty large 

 tree. The bark of the young twigs is smooth and green. The 

 leaves are partly oval, and partly in two or three large lobes, en- 

 tire on their margin, and downy underneath. Flowers greenish 

 yellow, appearing in May and June in drooping clusters at the 

 end of the last year's shoots. They are commonly dioecious. 

 Fruit oval, blue. 



The whole of the Sassafras tree has a strong, spicy flavour, 

 which is most powerful in the bark of the root. The young 

 twigs, and especially the pith, abound in mucilage. When first 

 introduced into Europe it acquired great medicinal reputation, 

 and was sold at the high price of fifty livres per pound. An 

 express treatise entitled Sassafrasologia was written to celebrate 

 its virtues. Its properties however appear to be those which 

 are common to other warm aromatics. 

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