Lauriis sassafras, 

 THE SASSAFRAS-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



Laurus sassafras, 



Laurier sassafras, Laurier des Iroquois, 



Sassafras-Lorberbaum, 



Sassofrasso, 



Sassafras-tree, Saxifai-tree, 



LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 



MicHAUx, North American Sylva. 



Loudon, Arboretum Brilannicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo- America. 



Dtriration. The specific name sassafras, is an alteration of ihe Spanish word salsafras, or saxi/ras, which Is appliea to a 

 species of Saxifra^, the virtues of which are attributed by the Spanish Americans to this tree. 



Engravings. Rlichaux, North American Sylva, pi. 81 ; Biselow, Medical Botany, pi. 35; Audubon, Birds of America, iii. 

 pi. cxliv. ; I/oudon, Arboretum Brilannicum, vii., pi. 218 el 2l9 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Sexes dioecious. Habit arborescent. Both leaves and flowers are produced from 

 the same buds. Buds, younger branches, and the under surface of the leaves, pubescent. Leaves 

 entire, or with 2 3 lobes. Veins prominent on the under side. Flowers in corymbose conglomerat* 

 racemes. Anthers wath 4 unequal cells. In the female flower, additionally to the pistil, are 6 gland- 

 like bodies, like those of the male flowers. Nuttall, Genera. 



Description. 



" If Fever's fervid raee 

 Glowed in the boiling veins, with care they "***** 

 *****" Freely urg'd 

 The cool aperient from the fragrant bark 

 Of Sassafras " ***** 

 ***** "To supply 



The place of fam'd Cinchona, whose rough brow 

 Now ruddy, and anon with paleness mark'd, 

 Drinks in its native bed, the genial gales 

 Of mountainous Peru." 



Traits of the Abokioimbs. 



^f^^^HE Laurus sassafras, in fa- 



^ nr' *tl vourable situations, some- 



^ LI '(^ times attains a height of fifty 



ifeS^ or sixty feet, with a trunk 

 from one to two feet in diameter ; but ordinarily it 

 does not much exceed one half of these dimensions. 

 The bark of the trunk is of a grayish colour, and is 

 deeply furrowed; and that of the young branches is 

 smooth, and of a beautiful reddish-green. On cut- 

 ting into the cortex or true bark, it exhibits a dark, 

 dull-red, much resembling the colour of the Peru- 

 vian bark. The trees, when old, often give birth to 

 numerous suckers, that spring up at little distances 

 from their trunks, which rarely rise higher than six 

 or eight feet. The leaves of the sassafras are four 

 or five inches in length, alternate and petiolated. 

 At their unfolding, in spring, they are downy, and 

 of a tender texture; but become smoother, and 

 more firm" by age. They are remarkable for the variety of their forms on the 

 same tree. " Those which proceed first from the bud, are usually oval and 

 entire ; the next have the same form, with a lobe on one side ; and the last, and 



