DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 89 



Stamens in 3 or 4 circles of 3 each, the anthers opening by 

 valves. Style single. Fruit a l-seeded berry or stone-fruit. 



I. SASSAFRAS, Nees. 



A tree with rough, yellowish bark and a spreading top. 

 Leaves deciduous, entire or 2-3-lobed. Flowers dioecious, in- 

 volucrate, at the end of the twigs of the previous season. 

 Calyx 6-parted, persistent in the pistillate flowers. Stamens 

 9, in 3 rows. Pistillate flowers with 4-6 abortive stamens 

 and a single ovary. Fruit a stone-fruit.* 



1. S. officinale, Nees. Sassafras. A tree, usually small and 

 slender, but sometimes with a trunk 3 ft, in diameter and 125 ft. 

 high. Leaves oval, entire, mitten-shaped or 3-lobed, downy when 

 young but becoming smooth with age, dark green above, paler 

 below, petiolate. Racemes several in a cluster, peduncled ; flowers 

 yellow. Stamens about as long as the sepals. Fruit dark blue, 

 ovoid, on thickened, red pedicels. All parts of the tree aromatic ; 

 trees producing pistillate flowers rare. Common. The wood is 

 valuable for cabinet-making, and an aromatic oil is extracted from 

 the bark.* 



n. LINDERA, Thunb. 



Shrubs ; leaves deciduous, entire. Flowers in lateral, 

 sessile clusters, appearing before the leaves, dioecious or 

 somewhat monoecious. Involucre of 4 scales. Stamens 9 in 

 the staminate flowers, filaments slender. Pistillate flowers 

 with 12-15 abortive stamens and a single globose ovary with 

 a short style.* 



1. L. Benzoin, Blume. Spice Bush. A shrub, 5-15 ft. high, 

 with smooth bark and slender twigs. Leaves oblong-obovate, acute 

 at the base, pale and downy beneath, becoming smooth when old ; 

 petioles short. Flowers about as long as the pedicels, yellow, very 

 fragi'ant. Ovary about as long as the style. Fruit an obovoid, red 

 stone-fruit about ^ in. long, on a slender pedicel. Banks of streams 

 and damp woods. Twigs and leaves quite aromatic* 



38. PAP AVERAGES. Poppy Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs, often with milky juice. Leaves 

 sometimes all radical, stem-leaves usually alternate without 



