LAURACE.E. (LAUREL FAMILY.) 447 



1. P. Carolinensis, Nees. (RED BAY.) Hoary with a fine down, at 

 least when young ; leaves oblong, pale, soon smooth above ; peduncle bearing 

 few flowers in a close cluster ; sepals downy, the outer shorter ; berries dark 

 blue, on a red stalk. Swamps, S. Del. to Fla. and Tex. May. A small tree. 



2. SASSAFRAS, Nees. 



Flowers dioecious, with a 6-parted spreading calyx ; the sterile kind 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-celled, 4-valved ; fertile flowers 

 with 6 short rudiments of stamens and an ovoid ovary. Drupe ovoid (blue), 

 supported on a club-shaped and rather fleshy reddish pedicel. Trees, with 

 spicy-aromatic bark, and very mucilaginous twigs and foliage ; leaves decidu- 

 ous, often lobed. Flowers greenish-yellow, naked, in clustered and peduncled 

 corymbed racemes, appearing with the leaves, involucrate with scaly bracts. 

 Leaf-buds scaly. (The popular name, applied by the early French settlers in 

 Florida.) 



1. S. officinale, Xees. Trees 15- 125 Righ, with yellowish-green twigs; 

 leaves ovate, entire, or some of them 3-lobed, soon glabrous. Kich woods, 

 E. Mass, to S. Ont., Mich., E. Iowa and Kan., arid south to the Gulf. April. 



3. LIT SEA, Lam. 



Flowers direcious, with a 6-parted deciduous calyx ; the sterile with 9 sta- 

 mens in 3 rows ; their anthers all iutrorse, 4-celled, 4-valved ; fertile flowers 

 with 12 or more rudiments of stamens and a globular ovarv. Drupe globular. 



Shrubs or trees, with entire leaves, and small flowers in axillary clustered 

 umbels. (Name of Chinese origin.) 



1. L. geniculata, Benth. & Hook. (POND SPICE.) Flowers (yellow) 

 appearing before the deciduous oblong leaves, which are hairv on the midrib 

 beneath ; branches forked and divaricate, the branchlets zigzag ; involucres 

 2-4-leaved, 2-4-flowered; fruit red. (Tetrauthera geniculata, Nees.) 

 Swamps, Ya. to Fla. April. 



4. LIWDERA, Thunb. WILD ALLSPICE. FEVER-BUSH. 



Flowers polygamous-dioecious, with a 6-parted open calyx ; the sterile with 

 9 stamens in 3 rows, the inner filaments 1 - 2-lobed and gland-bearing at base ; 

 anthers 2-celled and 2-valved; fertile flowers with 15-18 rudiments of stamens 

 in 2 forms, and a globular ovary. Drupe obovoid, red, the stalk not thickened. 



Shrubs, with deciduous leaves, and honey-yellow flowers iu almost sessile 

 lateral umbel-like clusters, appearing before the leaves (in our species) ; the 

 clusters composed of smaller clusters or umbels, each of 4 - 6 flowers and sur- 

 rounded by an involucre of 4 deciduous scales. Leaf-buds scaly. (Named for 

 John Linder, a Swedish botanist of the early part of the 18th century.) 



1. L. Benzdin, Blume. (SPICE-BUSH. BENJAMIN-BUSH.) Nearly 

 smooth (6-15 high); leaves oblong -obovate, pale underneath. Damp woods, 

 N. Eng. to Ont., Mich., E. Kan., and southward. March, April. 



2. L. melissaefblia, Blume. Young branches and buds pubescent ; leaves 

 oblonrj, obtuse or heart-shaped at base, downy beneath ; umbels few. Low 

 grounds, N. C. to Fla., west to S. 111. and Mo. April. 



