98 WOODY PLANTS 



SASSAFRAS Nees (Lauraceae) 



Aromatic deciduous tree. Twigs green, glabrescent, round- 

 ed, moderate; pith moderate, white, continuous. Buds usually 

 solitary, ovoid, sessile, subglobose; scales about 4. Leaf-scars 

 alternate, small, half-round or crescent-shaped; bundle-trace a 

 horizontal line more or less broken into 3; stipule-scars lacking. 

 Fruit an oblong-globose blue drupe. 



1. ^ albidum (Nutt. ) Nees. White Sassafras . A rough-barked 

 tree 4-38 m. high, 3-9 dm. in diameter; twigs yellowish-green, 

 glabrous, often glaucous; fruit a black drupe, persisting until 

 early winter. Var. moUe (Raf. ) Feirnald, Red Sassafras , has the 

 twigs closely pubescent or puberulent. (S. variifolium (Salisb. ) 

 Ktze. ; S. officinale Nees and Eberm. ) Sassafras tea is prepared 

 in winter from the bark of the root. Woods, Maine to Indiana and 

 Iowa, south to Florida and Texas; often spreading aggressively 

 and becoming weed-like (Fig. 110). 



LINDERA Thunb. (Lauraceae) 



Aromatic deciduous shrubs. Twigs rounded, slender, green; 

 pith relatively large, round, white, continuous. Buds rather small, 

 superposed; flower-buds collaterally multiple, green, globose, 

 stalked; terminal bud absent. Leaf-scars alternate, crescent- 

 shaped or half-round, small; bundle-traces 3, or sometimes con- 

 fluent; stipule-scars none. Fruit an obovoid or oblong drupe. 

 Benzoin Fabricius. 



1. L^ benzoin (L. ) Blume. Spicebush . A shrub 2-5 m. high; 

 twigs and buds glabrous; drupe red, 8-10 mm. high. Damp woods, 

 Maine to Ontario and Iowa, south to Florida and Texas (Fig. 111). 



PHILADELPHUS L. (Saxifragaceae) 



Deciduous shrubs, mostly with exfoliating bark. Twigs more 

 or less lined; pith moderate, rounded, pale, continuous. Buds 

 soUtary, sessile with 2 nearly valvate scales, end-bud lacking. 

 Leaf-scars opposite, half-round, with a thin membrane partly 

 covering the bud, bursting later in winter; bundle-traces 3; 

 stipule-scars none. Fruit a capsule. 



1. _P. inodorus L. Mock-Orange. Shrub 2-3 m. high; twigs 

 glabrous; fruit nearly solitary. Rocky slopes, Florida and 

 Alabama to Virginia and Tennessee. 



