LAURACEAE 



Sassafras 



Sassafras variifolium, (Salisb.) Ktze. [Sassafras sassafras, (I,.) 

 Karst.] [Sassafras officinale, Nees & Eberm.] 



HABIT. Usually a large shrub, but often a small tree 20-40 

 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 10-20 inches; stout, often 

 contorted branches and a bushy spray form a flat, rather open 

 crown. 



LEAVES. Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, 2-4 inches 

 broad; oval to oblong or obovate; entire or i-3-lobed with deep, 

 broad sinuses and finger-like lobes; thin; dull dark green above, 

 paler beneath; petioles slender, about I inch long. 



FLOWERS. May, with the leaves; dioecious; greenish yel- 

 low; on slender pedicels, in loose, drooping, few-flowered race- 

 mes 2 inches long; calyx deeply 6-lobed, yellow-green; corolla o; 

 stamens of staminate flower 9, in 3 rows, of pistillate flower 6, in 

 i row; ovary i-celled. 



FRUIT. September-October; an oblong-globose, lustrous, 

 dark blue berry, ^ inch long, surrounded at the base by the 

 scarlet calyx, borne on club-shaped, bright red pedicels. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal buds % inch long, ovoid, 

 acute, greenish, soft-pubescent, flower-bearing; lateral buds much 

 smaller, sterile or leaf-bearing. Aromatic. 



BARK. Twigs glabrous, lustrous, yellow-green, spicy- 

 aromatic, becoming red-brown and shallowly fissured when 2-3 

 years old; thick, dark red-brown and deeply and irregularly fis- 

 sured into firm, flat ridges on old trunks. 



WOOD. Soft, weak, brittle, coarse-grained, very durable in 

 the soil, aromatic, dull orange-brown, with thin, light yellow sap- 

 wood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Southern portion of Lower Peninsula 

 as far north as Grayling. 



HABITAT. Prefers well-drained, stony or sandy soil; 

 woods ; abandoned fields ; peaty swamps. 



NOTES. Rapid of growth. Suckers freely. Difficult to 

 transplant. Propagated easily from seed. 

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