LAURACEAE 



Sassafras 



Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees [Sassafras 



variifolium (Salisb.) Ktze.] 



HABIT. A shrub to medium-sized tree 20-50 feet high and 

 1-2 feet in diameter (max. 90 by 5 feet); flat, open crown. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; deciduous; oval to obovate; 

 three forms appearing on same tree, entire, 1-lobed, or 3-lobed; 

 3-6 inches long; entire; thin; dull dark green above. 



FLOWERS. Dioecious; small; in racemes; yellow-green; with 

 the leaves. 



FRUIT. A subglobose, lustrous, blue drupe, Vj, inch long; 

 borne on bright red, club-shaped pedicel lV^-2 inches long; 

 maturing in one year. 



TWIGS. Rather stout; ^glabrous; yellow-green; aromatic. 

 Winter buds: terminal present, Yi inch long, green scaly. 



BARK. Thick, red-brown, and furrowed on old trunks, 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Very intolerant; fast-growing; 



short-lived; indicator of poor sites; oil of sassafras distilled fr^ ^n 



roots and bark. 



* * * 



Redbay 



Persea borbonia (L.) Spreng. 



HABIT. A small to medium-sized tree, rarely 60 feet high; 

 rounded, dense crown with stout, erect branches, 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; persistent; elliptic to lanceolate; 

 2-4 inches long; entire; thick; aromatic; nearly glabrous; 

 bright green and lustrous above; paler and glaucous below. 



FLOWERS. Perfect; small; yellow; in panicles; corolla 

 absent. 



FRUIT. An oblong, dark blue, lustrous drupe, Yz inch long; 

 borne on glabrous red peduncles V^-1 inch long; calyx persistent. 



TWIGS. Slender; glabrous; dark green. Winter buds: ter- 

 minal present, naked, V4 inch long, red-woolly. 



BARK. Thin; dark red; furrowed and scaly. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intermediate in tolerance; wet 

 swampy sites. 



GENERAL. The swampbay, P. palustris (Raf.) Sarg., of the 

 coastal plain from North Carolina to Florida and Texas differs 

 from redbay in having lower leaf surfaces and twigs brown- 

 woolly, peduncles lVi-2 inches long, and fruit about % inch 

 long. Coker and Totten hold that these distinctions are vague 

 and unsatisfactory. The avocado, P. americana Mill, is naturalized 

 in southern Florida. 



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