Sassafras 517 



being scarcely developed, entire in margin, and on a short stalk about ^ inch long. 

 The second leaf, f inch long, is obovate-spathulate, entire in margin, very unequal- 

 sided, rounded at the apex, and tapering at the base. Succeeding leaves (six in all 

 being produced by August) are oval, i^ to 2^ inches long, stalked, unequal-sided, 

 pinnately-veined, slightly undulate in margin ; pale green and glabrous, with a raised 

 midrib beneath. 



*' T 



Identification 



In summer Sassafras is readily distinguishable by the aromatic leaves of different 

 shapes, entire and two- to three-lobed, and by the branchlets, without stipules or 

 their scars, remaining green for two or three years. In winter (Plate 200, Fig. 6) 

 the following characters are available : Twigs glabrous, green, shining, brittle, and 

 strongly aromatic in odour when broken ; lenticels few and inconspicuous ; pith wide 

 and mucilaginous. Leaf-scars alternate, oblique on prominent pulvini, very small, 

 semicircular with a raised rim, and showing a transverse band of minute coalesced 

 bundle-dots. Terminal buds ovoid, with a long sharp beak ; external scales, four to 

 five, imbricated, slightly pubescent, ciliate, green, often ridged or veined. Lateral 

 buds minute, arising from the twigs at about an angle of 45. Base of the shoot 

 marked by ring-like scars, indicating where the scales of the previous season's 

 terminal bud have fallen ofif. (A. H.) 



Distribution 



Sassafras occurs usually in rich, sandy, well-drained soil ; and is widely spread 

 in the eastern half of the United States, crossing into Canada in Southern Ontario. 

 The northern limit passes through the southern parts of Maine, Vermont, and 

 Ontario to Central Michigan, whence the western limit is continued through Eastern 

 Kansas and the Indian Territory, to the valley of the Brazos river in Texas. On 

 the eastern side it extends from Maine to Central Florida. In the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States it often takes possession of abandoned fields. 



In America the tree is very handsome at all seasons of the year, the light green 

 foliage of summer turning delicate shades of yellow, orange, and red in autumn. The 

 fruit, which is abundantly produced in some years, is showy, the berries dark blue in 

 colour contrasting with the scarlet cups in which they sit. The tree produces root- 

 suckers very freely. 



In New England the Sassafras does not often become a tree of considerable 

 size. Emerson ' states that it rarely reaches 30 feet in height by a foot in diameter, 

 and Michaux says that near Portsmouth, N.H., it is only a tall shrub rarely exceeding 

 15 to 20 feet high. But near Boston it sometimes grows much larger, and Emerson 

 mentions one which grew at West Cambridge in 1842, and measured nearly 60 by 

 8 to 9 feet, with a clean straight stem 30 feet long. This tree was felled in order, as 

 he says, "to allow a wall to run in a straight line." But such vandalism as this, 

 which a generation ago was common in New England, is now disappearing ; and 

 great care is taken of the few surviving old trees of the original forest. Tree 



* Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, ^. 359. 



