LAUEACEAE 149 



Sassafras tzumu Hemsley. 



(Pseudosassafras tzumu Lecomte.) 



Tree to 35 m. tall, sometimes a meter or more in diameter, of 

 pyramidal habit with stout, straight trunk and rugged horizontal branches. 

 The bark on young trees smooth and grayish-green, on mature trees dark 

 gray-brown, irregularly furrowed. Leaves ovate or obovate, entire or 1 

 to 3 lobed at the apex, pinnately veined, silky pubescent when young, 

 later glabrous, 10-20 cm. long, on slender petioles. Flowers profuse, 

 yellow, opening in early spring with the unfolding of the leaves, in 

 racemes, perfect, about 5 mm. across, pubescent on the inner surface; 

 staminodes 3, alternating with the 3 glandular stamens. Fruit about 12 

 mm. high, bluish black, covered with a glaucous bloom, embraced at the 

 base by an orange-ied cup formed by the thickened calyx tube. 



The wood is aromatic, dull yellowish-brown in color, soft, brittle, 

 weak and coarse but durable in contact with the ground. From the bark 

 of the roots of the American Sassafras variifolium Kuntze, which is very 

 similar to the Chinese species, oil of sassafras, used in perfumery, is 

 extracted. The essential oil is also employed as a mild stimulant. 

 Experiments on the extraction of the oil from the Chinese sassafras 

 should be interesting and might prove profitable. 



Hupeh, Kiangsi and Chekiang. 



CINNAMOMUM 



Trees or shrubs, evergreen. Bark and twigs very aromatic. Leaves 

 alternate or opposite, sometimes crowded towards the end of the branch- 

 lets, coriaceous, entire, in most species with 3 main nerves or veins. 



Flowers small, in large axillary panicles, often appearing terminal, 

 from the axils of uppermost leaves, dioecious or polygamous. Stamens 

 9, each of the 3 inner ones having 2 glands at the base; anthers 4 celled, 

 extrorse; staminodes 3. Fruit small, ovoid on a more or less enlarged 

 perianth. 



About 130 species have been described. Native to eastern Asia, 

 Australia and the Pacific Islands. The genus Oinnamomum includes 

 several important economic trees, among them C. zeylanicum, from China 

 and India, from which the cinnamon spice of commerce is obtained; 0. 

 cassia, which yields the cassia bark used in medicine; and 0. camphora, 

 widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries. 



