168 MEDICINAL AND POISONOUS PLANTS 
float as a thin layer, and one’s fingers may now be repeatedly 
thrust into the water and withdrawn without becoming wet 
in the least. Its waterproof nature gives lycopodium some 
value as an application to moist, inflamed surfaces of the 
body, and makes the spores useful aiso as a covering for 
Fig. 160.—Sassafras (Sassafras officinale, Laurel Family, Lauracew). A, 
flowering twig of staminate plant. B, branch bearing leaves and fruit. 
C, staminate flower. D, pistillate flower. EH, stamen, showing nectar 
glands at base of filament, and anther opening by up-turned valves. 
F, pistil, cut vertically. (Berg and Schmidt.)—Tree growing 20— 
30 m. tall; young branches green; leaves becoming smooth, aromatic; 
flowers yellow; fruit blue on red stalks. Native home, Eastern North 
America. 
moist pills to prevent their sticking together. The large 
amount of fixed oil contained in the spores renders them, 
moreover, very inflammable, and has led to their use in the 
manufacture of fireworks, and also as a means of producing 
artificial ightning in private theatricals, 
