394 LAURACE.E. (LAUREL OR BAY FAMILY.) 
the 1 -celled and 1 -ovuled ovary , and mostly fewer than the 
stamens : anthers opening hy 2-4 uplifted valves . — Flow- 
ers clustered. Style single. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or 
drupe. Seed anatropous, suspended, filled by the large 
almond-like embryo. 
1. SASSAFRAS, Nees. Sassafras. 
Flowers dioecious, with a 6-parted spreading calyx; fertile with 
9 stamens inserted on the base of the calyx in 3 rows, the 3 inner 
with a pair of stalked glands at the base of each ; anthers 4-cell- 
ed, 4-valved : fertile flowers with 6 short rudiments of stamens 
and an ovoid ovary. Drupe ovoid, supported on a club-shaped 
fleshy pedicel. Trees, with spicy-aromatic bark, very mucilagi¬ 
nous twigs and foliage, the latter deciduous, often lobed. Flow¬ 
ers greenish-yellow, in clustered and peduncled corymbed ra¬ 
cemes, appearing with the leaves. (The popular name, of Span¬ 
ish origin.) 
1. 8. officinale, Nees. Leaves ovate, entire, or some of them 
o ed, the younger ones and the buds silky-downy. (Lahrus Sassa¬ 
fras, L.) — Rich woods, common. April. — Tree 15° -50° high, with 
} e lowish-green twigs: the dark blue fruit borne on a red stalk, ripe 
in September. 
Nees. Wild Allspice. Fever-bush. 
Flowers polygamous-dioecious, with a 6-parted open calyx ; the 
sterile with 9 stamens in 3 rows, the inner 1 - 2-lobed and gland- 
bearing at the base ; anthers 2-celled and 2-valved : fertile flowers 
with 15 — 18 rudiments of stamens in 2 forms and a globular ova¬ 
ry. Drupe obovoid, the stalk not thickened. — Shrubs, with en¬ 
tire deciduous leaves, and honey-yellow flowers in almost sessile 
lateral umbel-like clusters appearing before the leaves; the clus¬ 
ters composed of smaller clusters or umbels of 4-6 flowers, sur¬ 
rounded by an involucre of deciduous scales. (Named from the 
aroma, which has been likened to that of benzoin.) 
1- R. odo rife rum, Nees. (Spice-bush. Benjamin-bush.) 
early smooth; leaves oblong-obovate, pale underneath ; pedicels 
scarcely as long as the flower. (Laurus Benzoin, L.) —Damp woods, 
April: the ovoid red fruit ripe in Sept. — Shrub 5' -10' high. 
