J302 ARBORETUM AND FKUTICETUM. PART 111. 



supported by long red peduncles. These berries are greedily devoured by 

 birds, and consequently do not remain long on the tree. The bark of the 

 young branches is smooth, and beautifully green ; but, when old, it becomes 

 of " a greyish colour, and is chapped into deep cracks. On cutting into it, 

 it exhibits a dark dull red, a good deal resembling the colour of Peruvian 

 bark." (Michx. N. Amer. Syl., ii. p. 146.) In the United States the sassa- 

 fras is found as far north as lat. 43 ; but it there appears only as a tall shrub, 

 rarely exceeding 15 ft. or 20 ft. in height. In the neighbourhood of New 

 York and Philadelphia, however, it grows to the height of 40ft. or 50ft., 

 and attains a still greater size in the southern states. It is abundant from 

 " Boston to the banks of the Mississippi, and from the shores of the ocean 

 in Virginia to the remotest wilds of Upper Louisiana beyond the Missouri, 

 comprising an extent in each direction of more than 1800 miles." (Michx.) 

 " The sassafras, on account of its medicinal properties, was one of the first 

 American trees which became known to Europeans. Monardez, in 1549, and 

 after him Clusius," treat of its uses. Gerard calls it the ague tree, and says, 

 that a decoction of its bark will cure agues, and many other diseases. The 

 bark is still employed in medicine, that of the roots being preferred ; and it is 

 said to be an excellent sudorific. A decoction of the chips is well known as 

 a remedy for scorbutic affections. In different parts of the United States, a 

 tea is made of the flowers, which is considered very efficacious in purifying 

 the blood. In Louisiana the leaves are used to thicken pottage; and in 

 Virginia a beer is made of the young shoots. The sassafras chips which are 

 sold in the English druggists' shops are formed of the wood of this tree ; but 

 what are called the sassafras nuts are the fruit of the Z/aurus Pucheri of the 

 Flora Peruviana. (See Lindl. Nat.Syst.ofBot.) Bigelow says that this tree is 

 produced in almost every part of the United States. " It not only inhabits 

 every latitude from New England to Florida, but we are told it is also found 

 in the forests of Mexico, and even in those of Brazil. Its peculiar foliage, 

 and the spicy qualities of its bark, render it a prominent object of notice, and 

 it seems to have been one of the earliest trees of the North American con- 

 tinent to attract the attention of Europeans. Its character, as an article of 

 medicine, was at one time so high, that it commanded an extravagant price, 

 and treatises were written to celebrate its virtues. It still retains a place in 

 the best European pharmacopoeias." (Bigclow's American Botany ,vol.ii. f %141.) 

 He adds that " the bark has an agreeable smell, and a fragrant spicy taste. 

 The flavour of the root is more powerful than that of the branches ; and both 

 flavour and odour reside in a volatile oil, which is readily obtained from the 

 bark by distillation. The bark and pith of the young twigs abound with a 

 pure and delicate mucilage ; and in this mucilage and the volatile oil all the 

 medicinal virtues of the tree are contained. The bark and wood were for- 

 merly much celebrated in the cure of various complaints, particularly in 

 rheumatism and dropsy ; but they are now only recognised as forming a warm 

 stimulant and diaphoretic." (Ibid.) The sassafras is of little value as a 

 timber tree. In America, the wood, which is white or reddish, is sometimes 

 used for making bedsteads and other articles of furniture, which are not liable 

 to be attacked by insects, and have a most agreeable odour, which they re- 

 tain as long as they are sheltered from the sun and rain. The wood is of 

 very little esteem for fuel ; and the " bark contains a great deal of air, and 

 snaps while burning like that of the chestnut." (Michx.) The most inter- 

 esting historical recollection connected with this tree is, that it may be said to 

 have led to the discovery of America; as it was its strong fragrance, smelt by 

 Columbus, that encouraged him to persevere when his crew mutinied, and 

 enabled him to convince them that land was near at hand. 



Soil, Propagation, $c. Any free soil, rather moist than dry, will suit this 

 species, which is generally propagated from imported seeds, which 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. The sas- 

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



