THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 107 



surprise some to learn that this plant often grows to be a foot 

 and a half in diameter. The aromatic pungent bark of the root 

 is known to every boy. In winter the sassafras may be identi- 

 fied by the green bark of the twigs, and in summer it is easily 

 recognized by the leaves. These latter have the curious habit 

 of bearing a single lobe on one side, so that to say the leaf is 

 mitten shaped exactly expresses it. Sometimes, however, 

 there is an additional thumb-like lobe on the other side and oc- 

 casionally the leaf is without lobes at all. 



There is one tree in many localities which deserves more 

 attention from poets and artists than it receives. This is the 

 sour gum, black gum, pepperidge or tupelo. It is one of the 

 most rugged and picturesque trees in any landscape. For 

 gnarled and twisted branches it has no equal. It is an appar- 

 ent impossibility to cut a straight stick a yard in length from 

 it. This obliquity extends to the very fibres of the tree which 

 are crossed and interlaced in such a manner as to fairly defy 

 one to split it. Holmes' remarks on the logs from the "Set- 

 tler's ellum" may be quoted in regard to this species. 



"Never an axe had seem their chips. 

 The wedges flew from between their lips. 

 Their blunt ends frizzled like celery tips." 



And this is doubtless why it is called gum, gum being another 

 name for rubber. But the birds love the tree, for its fruit and 

 who ever heard of an opossum up anything but a gum tree ex- 

 cept perhaps, a persimmon. The fruit is a drupe like the plum 

 but smaller and like the persimmon not edible until frosted. 

 Early in Autumn the leaves of this tree turn deep crimson. 



A conspicuous tree in regions where it grows is the larch, 

 best known by its Indian names of tamarack and hackmetack. 

 It is one of the few cone-bearing trees that do not retain their 

 leaves in winter. It loves best the swamps and bogs where it 

 often takes almost complete possession. Longfellow has re- 

 ferred to the use of its roots by the Indians for sewing up the 



