Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



SASSAFRAS. Our most aromatic tree, in root, leaf and 

 bark, is the sassafras, with also a spicy odor in the flower. 

 The blossom comes before the leaf, and a large tree in 

 full bloom is a golden ornament of April; very con- 

 spicuous, too, for the deep yellow clusters have almost 

 the monopoly of color, standing out boldly against the 

 bare forms of the woodland. The foliage has no special 

 recommendation except that best of all blessings, health- 

 fulness. One soon learns to recognize the tree from its 

 deeply furrowed, yellow-tinted bark, which is rougher, 

 even in a small tree, than in other trunks three times its 

 age and size. 



The sassafras is not as important a plant as when 

 its medicinal virtues were in high esteem, but none 

 the less interesting to the botanist. For ornament it is 

 not a tree to choose ; too good wantonly to uproot, but 

 hardly worth deliberate planting, at least in such large 

 numbers as one finds in the Park. It spreads rapidly 

 by shoots from the root, so that a full-grown tree is apt 

 to be surrounded by a flourishing brood of saplings. 

 The fruit is berry-like and dark blue, on reddish stems, 

 and eagerly sought by the birds. The most noticeable 

 characteristic is the variant form of leaf, the mulberry- 

 leaf being the only other one that is like it in this re- 

 spect ; for while the majority of its leaves are " entire," 

 some are two-lobed, others three-lobed, and all the dif- 

 ferent shapes are often growing on the same twig. The 

 foreign mulberry shows an even greater variation on the 

 same plant. 



The " entire " form of leaf, i.e., with a smooth edge, 

 always gives a colorless character to foliage. This is 



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