The Laurels and the Sassafras 



willow-like leaves are lustrous and rich in an aromatic oil, which 

 causes them to burn even when piled green on a campfire. The 

 flowers, small but fragrant, bloom in December and January. 

 The plum-like purple fruits which fall in autumn have the peculiar 

 habit of keeping their integrity long after the pit has germinated 

 in the leaf mould under the tree. The plantlet has the distinction 

 of being provided with a fresh fruit lunch which does not decay 

 and disappear until well into the following summer. 



The tree is planted in parks and gardens of California, and in 

 southern Europe. Its wood is esteemed one of the most beautiful 

 and valuable in the forests of the Pacific coast. It is used for 

 interior finish of houses and for furniture. It is close, firm, hard 

 and strong, rich brown, with pale thick sap wood. From the 

 leaves an aromatic oil is extracted, and a fatty acid from the 

 fruit. 



4. Genus SASSAFRAS, Nees. 



Sassafras (Sassafras Sassafras, Karst.) — Tree, 30 to 50 

 feet high; rarely, in the South, 100 feet high with trunk 6 to 7 feet 

 in diameter; top, flat or round, loose, open, irregular. Roots 

 fleshy, aromatic, deep, throwing up suckers. Bark spicy aro- 

 matic, thick, dark brown, reddish, scaly and broken by shallow 

 fissures into broad flat ridges; twigs, smooth, striated, green, 

 mucilaginous. IVood dull brownish yellow, soft, weak, coarse, 

 brittle, durable in the soil. Buds ovate, acute, greenish, aromatic. 

 Leaves alternate, petiolate, sometimes opposite, 4 to 6 inches long, 

 dull yellow-green, pale beneath, with entire margin; autumn 

 colour orange; shapes vary: (a) ovate, (b) mitten shape, with one 

 side lobe only, (c) 3 lobed, with a thumb on each side — the three 

 shapes all on the same tree. Flowers in May, dioecious, pale 

 yellow, in corymbose racemes on separate trees; staminate, with 

 9 stamens mounted in 3 rows on the 6-lobed calyx, minute glands, 

 orange coloured, at base of inner whorl of 3 stamens; pistillate, 

 with 6 abortive stamens in one row about single erect pistil. 

 Fruit soft, oblong, smooth, dark blue, on thickened scarlet calyx 

 and pedicel. Preferred habitat, rich, sandy loam, borders of 

 woodlands and peaty swamps. Distribution, southern Vermont 

 west through Michigan and Iowa to Kansas, south to Florida and 

 Texas. Uses: Wood makes posts and rails, boats and ox 



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