AMERICAN FOREST TREES 657 



Sassafras was one of the canoe woods of early times along the lower 

 Mississippi and its tributaries. Its two principal advantages over most 

 woods with which it was associated was its light weight and lasting 

 qualities. Canoes of this timber in Louisiana have given continued 

 service for a third of a century. 



In all parts of its range, wherever it is of sufficient size, it has been 

 used for posts. It is generally considered good for about twenty years. 

 Large trunks were formerly split for rails, and a few are utilized in that 

 way still, but most timber large enough for rails, now goes to sawmills. 

 In Texas most of the sassafras supplied by sawmills is manufactured into 

 furniture, but is listed as ash. The same thing is done in Arkansas and 

 Missouri, but the use in the latter state is extended to interior house 

 finish and office and bank fixtures. Sometimes it is made the outside 

 wood, and the figure caused by sawing the logs tangentially is ac- 

 centuated by stains and fillers. The figure of quarter-sawed wood is not 

 attractive because the medullary rays are too small. It lasts well as 

 railroad ties and a few are found in service in many parts of the tree's 

 range, but those who see it in the track are liable to mistake it for chest- 

 nut. 



A by-product of sassafras deserves mention tea made from the 

 flowers or from the bark of the roots. It is relished in the early spring, 

 and is popular in most regions where the tree is known. The bark 

 is a commercial commodity. It is tied in small bundles, and the price 

 at retail ranges from a nickel to a dime each. Drug stores and grocers 

 sell it. In the city of Washington in early spring sassafras peddlers 

 canvas the city from center to circumference. They are generally 

 negro men and women who dig the roots on the neighboring hills of 

 Virginia and Maryland, strip the bark, tie it in small bundles, and by 

 diligence and perseverance, succeed in converting the merchandise into 

 money. 



Sassafras is often cited as an example of a tree with leaves of differ- 

 ent forms. Three shapes are common, and all frequently occur on the 

 same tree, and even on the same twig. One has no lobes, another has 

 one lobe like the thumb of a mitten, and another has three. 



LANCEWOOD (Ocotea catesbyana) is a small evergreen tree, looks 

 much like laurel, and grows.in southern Florida, on the islands and on the 

 mainland in the vicinity of Biscayne bay. It is closely related to sassa- 

 fras, and the bark has an aromatic odor. It belongs to a group of trees 

 with nearly 200 species scattered in hot regions of both hemispheres. 

 This is the only one belonging to the United States, and it appears to be 

 a newcomer on these shores, from the fact that it has succeeded in ob- 

 taining so limited a foothold. It keeps well south of the region where it 



