SASSAFRAS SATUREIA 501 



SASSAFRAS OFFICINALE, Nees. SASSAFRAS. LAURACE.E. 



(S. variifolium, Kuntze ; Laurus Sassafras, Linnaus.} 



\ deciduous tree, occasionally 70 to 90 ft. high in a wild state ; young 

 shoots sparsely downy at first. Leaves alternate, of variable shape, 

 mostly oval, ovate, or obovate, often with a conspicuous lobe on one or 

 both sides, the sinus always rounded ; 3 to 7 ins. long, 2 to 4 ins. wide, 

 tapering at the base, prominently three-veined ; glossy dark green above, 

 pale and somewhat glaucous beneath, both sides at first downy ; stalk J 

 to ij ins. long. Flowers greenish yellow, produced in May in downy 

 racemes i to 2 ins. long, the sexes usually on separate trees. Corolla 

 absent ; calyx \ in. long and wide, with six narrowly oblong lobes. 

 Stamens nine in the male, and perfect; six in the female, and aborted. 

 Fruit dark blue, roundish oval, \ in. long. 



Native of the eastern United States; introduced in 1633. The whole 

 tree is pleasingly aromatic, and has many reputed medicinal virtues. 

 Although the Sassafras has no great beauty of flower, it is a striking and 

 handsome tree in foliage. There are very few good specimens in this 

 country; the best is at Claremont, the seat of H.R.H. the Duchess of 

 Albany. I measured this tree in May 1910, and made it 50 ft. high and 

 7 ft. 2 ins. in girth at i ft. from the ground a fine pyramidal specimen. 

 It should be raised from seed, which can be obtained from American 

 nurserymen cheaply. Although perfectly capable of withstanding severe 

 frost, its young foliage is sometimes crippled in spring by late frost. It 

 likes a warm, loamy soil. 



S. TZUMU, Hemsley.- This is the only other species of Sassafras known. 

 It is a Chinese tree, introduced from Hupeh to the Coombe Wood nursery 

 by Wilson in 1900 ; a tree now growing at Kew is the only one known to me. 

 As compared with the American species, it has certain small differences in the 

 structure of the flower, the shoots and leaves are smooth, and it is remarkably 

 distinct in growth. The original tree at Coombe Wood made enormous, 

 succulent, erect growths every year, perhaps 6 or 7 ft. long, with proportion- 

 ately large leaves. These shoots are very much cut back in winter, but a 

 woody trunk is gradually being formed, and the tree with age may become 

 quite acclimatised. Leaves with the principal veins reddish; young wood 

 purple-spotted. The specific name is founded on the native one ("tzu-mu"). 

 According to Henry, who discovered it, the tree grows 50 ft. high, and its 

 timber is valued by the mountaineers where it is wild. 



SATUREIA MONTANA, Linnceus. WINTER. SAVORY. 



A semi-shrubby plant, 12 to 15 ins. high, woody at the base, partially 

 evergreen, aromatic; stems erect, slender, round, clothed with minute 

 pale, decurved hairs. Leaves opposite, linear or narrowly oblong; 

 \ to i in. long, T \- to \ in. wide ; pointed, stalkless, pitted with glands 

 on both surfaces, a few minute bristle-like hairs on the margins ; upper 

 surface often made into a channel by the upcurving of the margins. 

 Flowers produced in terminal leafy panicles ; calyx minutely bristly, bell- 



