476 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



SASSAFRAS 



Sassafras variifolium (Salisb.) Kuntze. 

 S. officinale Nees & Eberm. ; /S. Sassafras Karst. 



HABIT A small tree at times reaching 40-50 ft. in height, with 

 a trunk diameter of 2-4 ft.; at the north smaller and often shrubby; 

 in the southern states reaching a height of 100 ft.; branches numerous, 

 stout, more or less contorted, often distinctly in yearly whorls, horizontal 

 or forming a broad angle with the trunk, subdividing to produce a 

 bushy spray and forming a fiat-topped or slightly rounded oblong 

 head. Limbs brittle and frequently lost through ice storms or other 

 injuries, giving the tree a battered appearance as shown in photograph. 

 The tree sprouts abundantly from the roots often surrounding itself 

 with a thicket of saplings (see those at right in picture). 



BARK Reddish-brown, deeply furrowed even in comparatively young 

 trees into broad flat ridges with narrow horizontal cracks running part 

 way around the trunk and dividing the ridges into short blocks. 



TWIGS Slender to stout, bright yellowish-green, often reddish where 

 exposed to light, smooth and sljining or somewhat downy; internodes 

 very unequal; rapidly grown shoots freely branching the first season, 

 the branches exceeding the main axis; twigs spicy-aromatic to both 

 smell and taste, mucilaginous if chewed. LENTICELS scattered, very 

 Inconspicuous. 



I^EAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, small, raised, semi- 

 elliptical, with elevated margins. STIPULE-SCARS absent. BUNDLE- 

 SCARS single, forming horizontal line. 



BUDS Green, more or less tinged with red toward tip; lateral buds 

 small, divergent; terminal buds large. 5-10 mm. long, ovate, pointed; 

 flower buds terminal. BUD-SCALES with thickened veins; generally 

 3, narrower, thicker, shorter scales surrounding terminal bud. 



COMPARISONS Its bright green aromatic mucilaginous twigs which 

 form branches the first season surpassing the main axis, its single 

 bundle-scar and the transverse cracking of the ridges of the bark 

 render the Sassafras one of the most interesting of our native trees in 

 winter. It is scarcely to be confused with any other form. 



DISTRIBUTION In various soils and situations; sandy or rich woods, 

 along the borders of peaty swamps, thickets and fence-rows. Provinces 

 of Quebec and Ontario; south to Florida; west to Michigan, Iowa, 

 Kansas, and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine this tree grows not beyond Black Point 

 iScarboro, Cumberland county) eastward; (Josselyn's New England 

 Rarities, 1G72); not reported again by botanists for more than two 

 hundred years; rediscovered at Wells in 1895 and North Berwick in 

 1896; New Hampshire lower Merrimac valley, eastward to the coast 

 and along the Connecticut valley to Bellows Falls; Vermont occasional 

 south of the center; Pownal; Hartland and Brattleboro; Vernon; Massa- 

 chusetts common especially in the eastern sections; Rhode Island 

 common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Frequent. 



WOOD Soft, weak, brittle, coarse-grained, very durable in the soil, 

 aromatic, dull orange-brown, with thin light yellow sapwood of 7-8 

 layers of annual growth; largely used for fence-posts and rails and in 

 the construction of light boats, ox-yokes, and in cooperage. The roots 

 and especially their bark are a mild aromatic stimulant, and oil of 

 sassafras used to perfume soaps, flavor candy, etc. and as an ingredient 

 in liniment is distilled from them. 



