32 ODOrtOGRAPHIA. 



nearly 100 feet. It forms many slender, cylindrical branches. It 

 has a rough, deeply furrowed or cracked bark, of a greyish-brown 

 colour and very aromatic. The bark of the young shoots is 

 yellowish or reddish -green. The leaves are alternate, on petioles 

 about 1 inch long and remarkable for their variety of form on the 

 same tree ; those which open first from the bud being oval, entire 

 and about four inches long ; the next being of the same form with 

 a lobe on each side, and the last to appear have regularly three 

 lobes. The greenish-yellow dioecious unisexual flowers are in 

 drooping racemose panicles, appearing with the leaves and imme- 

 diately beneath them. There is no calyx : the corolla is divided 

 into six narrow, greenish-white segments. The anthers are linear 

 and -i-celled. The fruit is an oval drupe about the size of a pea, of 

 a deep blue colour, supported erect on a red peduncle nearly 2 

 inches in length. The tree is quite hardy in the climate of 

 England, but is rarely seen here. 



The bark is much more fragrant than the wood, the root- bark 

 being the most powerful, and that of the branches the most 

 pleasant. 



Imported sassafras varies in size, from " chips," which are light, 

 porous and of greyish-yellow colour, to large branched pieces 

 sometimes 8 inches in diamater. The diaiensions of the actual 

 root-pieces diminishes down to that of a quill. The external bark 

 of the roots is spongy, rough and externally of dull greyish-brown, 

 internally reddish-brown. The inner bark is light in colour and 

 rich in essential oil. The wood of the root is tolerably soft and 

 easily cut ; it is of a dark reddish-brown colour and has the same 

 agreeable odour and aromatic taste as the inner bark, but in a 

 much more feeble degree. The inner bark, separated from the 

 valueless external outer bark, constitutes a special article of 

 commerce, in which a considerable business is done. It appears in 

 irregular shaped, flat, bent, furrowed pieces, rarely larger than 

 4 inches in length by 3 inches in width, and from J inch to 2 

 inches in thickness. Its external surface is finely veined and 

 interspersed with minute crystals of calcium oxalate. It is short- 

 fractured, corky, of a brilliant cinnamon colour, strong agreeable 

 odour and aromatic, slightly bitter taste. Examined under the 

 microscope, it exhibits a great number of oil-cells and cells 

 containing mucilage. The root also contains tannic acid, and a 

 colourins: matter analo^fous to cinchona-red. 



