SASSAFRAS. 



573. — Forests of Sumatra, where it is called " Kayo Gadis" or 

 Virgin tree. Java. 



A lofty timber tree. Bark brown and rough. Leaves alternate, 

 rather long-petioled, ovate, acute, often acuminate and varying in 

 breadth, about 3 inches long, entire, with somewhat revolute edges, 

 smooth, glaucous beneath ; nerves lateral and irregularlv alternate. 

 Petioles round, 1 inch long. Peduncles from the young shoots at the 

 extremity of the branches, axillary or lateral, terminated by a short 

 few-flowered panicle, and generally longer than the young leaves from 

 whose axils they spring. Bracts none. Perianth funnel-shaped, 

 6-parted, yellowish. Jack. — The fruit has a strong balsamic smell 

 and yields an oil considered useful in rheumatic affections. An infusion 

 of the root is drunk as Sassafras and with similar effects. (May this 

 not be the "Oriental Sassafras wood" mentioned under the article 

 Laurus in Rees's Cyclopaedia ? Jack.) 



BENZOIN. 



Flowers dioecious, involucrated. $ . Calyx 6-parted with 

 equal permanent segments. Fertile stamens 9, in 3 rows. 

 Anthers ovate, 2-celled, looking inwards. Glands 6-9 in 2 or 3 

 rows, with a reniform compressed head, alternate either with the 

 stamens of the second and third row, or with those of the first 

 and second row, added obliquely to the third row. $ flowers 

 smaller than the male with (12?) sterile stamens, among which 

 spathulate bodies are dispersed. Fruit succulent, seated on the 

 permanent 6-cleft calyx. — Flowers before the leaves, in sessile 

 umbels. Leaves membranous, deciduous. 



699. B. odoriferum Nees Laurin. 497. — Laurus Benzoin Linn, 

 sp. pi. 530. Barton mat. med. ii. t. 33. Laurus pseudo Benzoin 

 Mich.ji. bor. am. i. 24*3. — Low moist places, damp shady woods 

 from Canada to Florida. (Spice wood, spice berry, Fever 

 wood,) &c. 



A bush, 8-10 feet high. Leaves oblong or elliptical wedge-shaped, 

 membranous, green on each side, slightly downy beneath. Flowers 

 yellow, in little naked umbels on the naked branches. Fruit the size 

 of an olive, bright red, in clusters. — Bark highly aromatic, stimulant and 

 tonic ; given in decoction or powder in intermittents. An infusion of 

 the twigs a vermifuge. Oil of the berries, which are aromatic, a stimu- 

 lant; these berries are said to have been used in the United States 

 during the American war as a substitute for allspice. 



TETRANTHERA. 



Flowers dioecious, some hermaphrodite, involucrated. Calyx 

 6-parted ; segments nearly equal, deciduous or wanting, or only 

 3, 4 or 5 and those small and petaloid. Fertile stamens in the 

 6-cleft flowers 9 in 3 rows; in the petaloid or naked flower 

 12-15-21 ; anthers ovate, 4-celled, all looking inwards. Sterile 

 stamens 6, sessile or stalked, gland-like, attached in pairs to the 

 339 z 2 



