SASSAFRAS 



Sassafras, Nees ab Esenbeck u. Ebermaier, Band6. Med. Pharm. Bot. {.418 (1830); Bentham et 

 Hooker, Gen. PI. iii. 160 (1880). 



Deciduous trees belonging to the order Lauraceae, with alternate pinnately-veined 

 simple leaves without stipules. Flowers dioecious or rarely perfect, in few-flowered 

 racemes in the axils of bud-scales at the ends of the previous year's shoots. Calyx 

 six-lobed, the lobes in two series, imbricated in bud ; petals absent. Staminate flowers ; 

 stamens nine in three series, the three inner ones each with two stalked glands at 

 the base ; anthers opening with four valves. Pistillate flowers with flattened ovate 

 pointed or slightly two-lobed staminodes, or occasionally with fertile stamens like 

 those of the male flowers ; ovary ovoid, glabrous, superior, one -celled ; ovule 

 solitary, suspended ; one style elongated with a capitate stigma. Fruit an oblong- 

 ovoid, one-seeded dark-blue berry, surrounded at the base by the enlarged and 

 thickened calyx-limb, and supported on pedicels much thickened above the middle. 



The genus comprises only two species, one occurring in North America and the 

 other in China. 



SASSAFRAS TZUMU, Chinese Sassafras 



Sassafras Tzumti, Hemsley, in Kew Bull. 1907, p. 55, and in Hooker, Icon. Plant, t. 2833 (1907). 

 Litsea laxtflora, Kemsley, fourn. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxvi. 383, t 8 (1891). 

 Lindera Tzumu, Hemsley, op. cit. 392 (1891). 



This species grows sparingly in China in mountain woods at 3000 to 5000 feet 

 elevation, south-west of Ichang, in the province of Hupeh ; near Kiukiang in 

 Kiangsi ; and inland from Ningpo in Chekiang. It attains a height of 50 feet and 

 yields a timber esteemed by the mountaineers, who call it the tzu-mu or huang ch'iu 

 tree. Resembling very closely the American species in the characters of the foliage 

 and inflorescence, it was considered by Prof Sargent^ and Mr. E. H. Wilson to be 

 indistinguishable. Mr. Hemsley, however, points out certain differences in the 

 floral organs, which entitle it to rank as a distinct species. The flowers are slightly 

 smaller than those of the American tree, and are pubescent within and not glabrous 

 as in that species. The male flowers have three staminodes alternating with the 

 glandular row of stamens and a prominent pistillode, which are wanting in Sassafras 



' Trees N. Amer. 336 (1905). 

 HI 515 K 



