32. SASSAFRAS OFFICINALE SASSAFRAS. 21 



particularly that of the roots. When growing in tall forests one is im- 

 pressed with the peculiarly crooked and almost vine-like appearance of 

 the trunks. In favorable localities this tree attains the height of 50 ft. 

 (15 m.) with a trunk 3 ft. (0.90 m.) in diameter.* 



HABITAT. Eastern United States north to about the latitude of cen- 

 tral New York, westward to Kansas and southward to the Gulf, reaching 

 its greatest development in the southern and south-western part of its 

 range. In the north it is usually a mere shrub, the trees being rare and 

 local. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, rather brittle, coarse- 

 grained and of a delicate brown color, the sap-wood, which occupies but 

 a few rings, being of a yellowish white. It partakes slightly of the aro- 

 matic nature of the bark, and lasts well in contact with the soil. Specific 

 Gravity, 0.5042 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.10 ; Relative Approximate Fuel 

 Value, 0.5037 ; Coefficient of Elasticity, 51910 ; Modulus of Rupture, 

 602 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 382 ; Resistance to Indenta- 

 tion, 134 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 31.42. 



USES. The timber is used to some extent in the manufacture of pails, 

 buckets, ox-yokes, etc., for which its lightness makes it suitable, but it 

 is more extensively used for fence-rails, posts, etc., where it is of value 

 owing to its enduring long exposure to the weather. The odor of the 

 Sassafras, which is slightly noticeable in the timber, is said to be obnox- 

 ious to insects, and for that reason boxes, chests, etc., made of this wood 

 are to a certain extent insect-proof. 



A flavoring extract, due to an essential oil which is distilled from the 

 bark of the roots, is of great value and popularity. In this oil, too, as 

 well as a mucilage derived from the pith of the young shoots, lies a 

 medicinal virtue, on account of which the Sassafras was one of the first 

 trees of America to become known to the Europeans, it being scarcely more 

 than half a century after the landing of Columbus when this was pub- 

 lished to the world by the Spanish writer, Monardes. f 



The mucilaginous leaves of the Sassafras dried and pounded are used 

 in the South in the preparation of "gumbo" soup, and a decoction of 

 the bark is said to make a durable orange-color dye for woolen good s. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are found in the pith of the young shoots, 

 which, treated with water, yield a peculiar mucilage, and in the bark, 

 especially of the roots, from which a volatile oil is extracted. 



The mucilage is much employed as a soothing application in inflam- 

 mation of the eyes, and forms an agreeable and useful drink in dysenteric, 



*Prof. C. S. Sargent reports this tree as exceptionally attaining a very much larger size 

 even 90 ft. (27 m.) in height and 7 ft. 6 in. (2.25 m.) in diameter of trunk, which dimensions 

 must be very rare. 



I- We might add, however, that some of the properties ascribed to the Sassafras in those 

 early days are not claimed of it now. 



