106 . TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



to good, light soils, but grows best in moist loam. It has few 

 disfiguring insect enemies. Mostly propagated by seed, but 

 sometimes successfully collected ; for sale in the leading 

 nurseries and usually obtainable in large quantities. Of 

 abnormal forms offered by nurserymen, one has an upright 

 habit approaching that of the Lombardy poplar ; another has 

 variegated leaves, and another leaves without lobes. 



PLATE LIII. LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA. 



1. Winter bud, terminal. 4. Fruit. 



2. Opening leaf-bud with stipules. 5. Fruit with many carpels removed. 



3. Flowering branch. 0. Carpel with seeds. 



LAUREL FAMILY. 

 Sassafras officinale, Nees. 

 Sassafras Sassafras, Karst. 



SASSAFRAS. 



Habitat and Range. In various soils and situations ; sandy 

 or rich woods, along the borders of peaty swamps. 



Provinces of Quebec and Ontario. 



Maine, this tree grows not beyond Black Point (Scar- 

 boro, Cumberland county) eastward (Josselyn's New Eng- 

 land Rarities, 1672) ; not reported again by botanists for 

 more than two hundred years ; rediscovered at Wells in 

 1895 (Walter Deane) and North Berwick in 1896 ( J. C. 

 Parlin) ; New Hampshire, lower Merrimac valley, eastward 

 to the coast and along the Connecticut valley to Bellows 

 Falls ; Vermont, occasional south of the center ; Pownal 

 (Robbins, Eggleston) ; Hartland and Brattleboro (Bates), Ver- 

 non (Grant) ; Massachusetts, common especially in the east- 

 ern sections ; Rhode Island and Connecticut, common. 



South to Florida ; west to Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas. 



Habit. Generally a shrub or small tree but sometimes 

 reaching a height of 40-50 feet and a trunk diameter of 2-4 



