LAURACEAE 83 



The laurel family, widely distributed in the tropics and com- 

 prising more than a thousand species, is most widely represented 

 in Illinois by the very well known weed tree, Sassafras. Among 

 the shrubs, it is represented here only by the following genus. 



LINDERA Thunberg 

 The Spicebushes 



The spicebushes are shrubs, or rarely trees, with aromatic, 

 spicy bark and entire, alternate leaves. They bear yellow flowers 

 in umbels, which arise from old leaf axils before the leaves ap- 

 pear. The flowers usually have 6 sepals, rarely 7 to 9, and 

 there are as a rule 9 stamens in the staminate flowers. The fruit, 

 characteristic of the family, is a pulpy drupe. 



There are over 60 species in this genus, all of them Asian 

 except 2 that are North American. Some Asian species are 

 trees. Both of the North American species are shrubs and 

 occur in Illinois; they usually are classed in the genus Benzoin. 



Key to the Spicebush Species 



Leaves narrowed at the base ; the shrub glabrous throughout 



L. Benzoin 



Leaves rounded or nearly cordate at the base ; twigs and^ lower 



leaf surfaces pubescent L. melissaefolium 



LINDERA BENZOIN (Linnaeus) Blume 

 Spicebush Spiceweed Benjamin Bush 



The Spicebush, fig. 17, is a stout, branching shrub 8 or 10 

 feet high with stems \ to lyi inches in diameter at the base, 

 covered by rough bark interrupted with corky lenticels. Two 

 kinds of leaves are to be found, all of them alternately placed. 

 Those toward the upper parts of the branches are oblong-ovate 

 or nearly oval; those farther down are generally much smaller 

 and oval to nearly circular. The blades, commonly 2 to 5 inches 

 long by 1 to 2]/^ inches wide, are acute or somewhat short-acum- 

 inate at the tip and narrowed to the petiole at the base, green 

 above and paler beneath, and the margins are entire. The 

 petioles of the outer leaves are ^4 to ]/>, inch long, those of the 

 lower leaves shorter. 



Flowers appear before the leaves in April or early in May, in 

 small, stalkless clusters from the axils of the last year's leaves. 



