684 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Synonymes. Tdrnus mas odorata, folio trifido, margiae piano. Sassafras dicta, Plulc. Aim. 120 t. 222. 



f. 6. ; Sassafras arbor, ex Florida, flculneo folio, Bauh. Pin. 431. ; Sassafras sp. C. G. Neet Von 



Esenbeck : Persea Sassafras Spreng. ; Laurier Sassafras, Fr. ; Sassafras Lorbeer, Ger. ; Sas- 



sofrasso, Ital. 

 Engravings. Catesb. Car., 1. t. 55. ; N. Du Ham., 5. t. 114. : plates in Arb. Brit., 1st ed. vol. vii. : 



and ourf.g. 1333. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Sexes dioecious. Arborescent. Leaves and flowers pro- 

 duced from the same buds. Buds, younger branches, and the under surface 

 of the leaves, pubescent. Leaves entire, or with 2 3 lobes. Veins pro- 

 minent on the under side. Flowers in corymbose conglomerate racemes. 

 Anthers with 4 unequal cells. In the female flower, additionally to the pistil, 

 are 6 gland-like bodies, like those in the male flowers. (Nutt.) A decidu- 

 ous tree. South Carolina. Height 40 ft. to 50ft. Introduced in 1633. 

 Flowers greenish yellow, slight, odoriferous ; April and May. Berries 

 bright deep blue, contained in small dark red cups ; ripe in September. 



The sassafras tree often grows, even in England, to the same height as in 

 America. The leaves, which vary very much in size and shape, are covered, 

 when they first appear, with a soft woolly down ; they are generally deeply 

 lobed, on long footstalks, and of a pale green ; they fall off early in autumn of 



1333. /,. Sdttafran. 



an intense red and yellow. Any free soil, rather moist than dry, will suit this 

 species, which is generally propagated from imported seeds. These should be 

 sown, or put in a rot-heap, as soon as received, as they remain a year, and 

 sometimes two or three years, in the ground, before they come up. It may 

 also be propagated by cuttings of the roots, or bv suckers, which the roots of 



