1020] REIIDER, THE AMERICAN AND ASIATIC SPECIES OF SASSAFRAS 243 



character for the principal groups of the family, we seem to arrive at a more 

 natural arrangement if we consider with Mez (Laurac. Amer. Monog, in 

 Jahrb, Bot. Gart. Mus. Berlin, v, [1889]) the nature of the inflorescence as 

 one of the most important characters. According to his arrangement Sassa- 

 fras belongs to the tribe Litseae which is nearly the same as Litsaeaceae 

 of Bentham & Hooker except that Mez refers Sassafridium which has a 

 paniculate inflorescence to Ocotca of the tribe Perseae. From all the 

 genera of the tribe Litseae the genus Sassafras is easily separated by its 

 racemes of slender-j^edicelled flowers, in the axils of the basal scales of the 

 terminal branch-bud, while in the other genera the flowers are arranged in 

 lateral umbels or heads somethnes reduced to one flower, subtended by an 

 involucre of 4-6 bracts, or as in Actinodaphnc in lateral subsessile fascicles. 

 The genus most closely related to Sassafras is apparently Benzoin to which 

 the Formosan Sassafras with 2-loculed anthers forms a transition. Very 

 close to Benzoin is Litsea which differs from it in no other character than in 

 the 4-loculed anthers and should be united with it, if the number of locules is 

 not considered a sufficient generic character. These three genera are the 

 only Lauraccae with all (in Sassafras) or part of the species deciduous. 



All three species of Sassafras agree perfectly in their vegetative charac- 

 ters, in habit, in bark, in their winter-buds, in the deciduous leaves with a 

 more or less pronounced tendency toward lobing, in the inflorescence and 

 in the fruit, and tlie differences in the structure of the flowers are onlv such 

 as can Ijc explained })y suppression or abortion. The i)hylogcnetic type of 

 the genus Ls apparently S. tzumu which has a typical Lauraceous flower; 

 from this type the Formosan species deviated by the suppression of the two 

 upper smaller locules of the antlicr, and S. officinale by the abortion of the 

 staminodcs and by a more advanced state of dioecism already indicated in 

 S. tzumu. As the admission of the two Asiatic species to the genus necessi- 

 tate some change in its characters a revised generic description may be given 

 here. 



Sassafras Nees & Ebcrmaier, Ilandb. Med.-Pharm. Bot. ii. 411 (1831). 

 Pseudosassajras Lecomte, Notul. Syst. ii. 268 (1912). 



Flores dioeci vel androdiocci floribus masculis ovarlo fere normali in- 

 structis, laxe et breviter racemosi, racemis pedunculatis, involucro proprio 

 fere omnino dcstitutis, e gemmis terminallbus simul cum Innovatlone ori- 

 entibus; perianthii tubus fere subnullus; segmenta 6, subaequalia, debilia, 

 lanceolata; stamina J), ordinis tertii basi utrinque glandula stipitata aucta; 

 staminodia S vel in specie dioeca nulla; speciei dioecae flores masculi ovario 

 omnino dostituti et fcminei tantum staminodiis G instructi; filamenta an- 

 gusta; antherae introrsae, 4- vel 2-locellatae: ovarium ovoidcum, stylo 

 longiusculo: bacca perianthii tubo aucto carnoso breviter cupulato mar- 

 gine truncato vel sinuato insldens. — Arbores cortice crasso suberoso pro- 

 funde fisso cinnamomeo: gemmae ovoideae squamis pluribus imbricatis 

 rotundalis vel late ovatis: folia alterna, decidua, penninervia vel 3-lobata 

 et 3-nervIa: flores praecoces, flavescentes: racemi fructiferl ad basin ramu- 

 lorum; bacca subglobosa vel breviter ellipsoidea, nigro-coerulea, basi 



