VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



181 



SASSAFRAS. 



portion of the state will learn and more fully report upon its present 

 distribution as this region marks its northern limit as a native tree. It 

 thrives, however, as a shade tree planted in yards in Rutland and Burling- 

 ton. 



An attractive feature of this tree is its display of tulip-like flowers 

 which open in June. The leaves are curiously four lobed, or lyre shape, 

 as is well shown in the figure, light green above and whitish below. 



LAUREL FAMILY 



Sassafras Sassafras (Linn.) Karst., S. officinale Nees. 



The sassafras reaches its northern 

 limit in southeastern Vermont where 

 it occurs sparingly in sandy soils in 

 the lower Connecticut valley. It is 

 also found in Pownal, and should be 

 looked for further north in western 

 Vermont. The leaves have many in- 

 teresting variations in form. Some 

 are ovate and entire while others are 

 deeply three lobed. These with inter- 

 mediate forms may be found on the 

 same tree. Its bright blue fruits ripen 

 in September and are eagerly de- 

 voured by the birds. The root of 

 this tree furnishes the sassafras bark 

 of commerce. When transplanted it 

 makes an interesting and rather or- 

 namental tree. 



SASSAFRAS 

 Leaves and young fruit, X 



PLANETREE FAMILY 



sycamore (buttonwood). Platanus occidentalis Linn. 



The sycamore occurs sparingly in the Champlain and the lower Con- 

 necticut valleys, and their tributaries. It is also abundant in the Hoosac 

 valley, in southwestern Vermont. It is at its northern limit in this state 

 and as a consequence no very large trees of it occur. In the lower Ohio and 

 Mississippi valleys, where it is more fully at home, the sycamore develops 

 into the largest tree of eastern North America, occasionally reaching a 

 height of 150 feet and a diameter of 1 5 feet. 



An unmistakable character of the tree is its bark. On old trees this is 

 brown and rough on the lower parts of the trunk, but above and on the 

 branches it is smoother with great irregular whitish or pale yellowish patches 

 where the outer layers have scaled off leaving the inner bark exposed. 



