436 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



with- dioecious or polygamous flowers. The stamens are free ; but 

 the anthers of all are four-celled and introrse, and there are no in- 

 terior sterile stamens. The fruit (fig. 255) is nearly naked, and its 



Sassafras officinale. 



Fig. 253. 

 Leaf. 



Fig. 254. 

 Male flower, diagram. 



Fig. 255. 

 Fruit (■{). 



base is surrounded by the persistent perianth and receptacle sur- 

 mounting a dilated, club-shaped pedicel. The leaves (fig. 253) are 

 caducous and three-ribbed, and polymorphous, some entire, others 

 lobed. The inflorescences are accompanied by scaly bracts which 

 envelope them completely when young. This genus contains but 

 two species, of which the best known is the Sassafras-tree (S. offici- 

 nalis 1 ), a fine tree from North America. The genus Sassafridiunr 

 differs from the preceding one in its flowers being hermaphrodite, 

 not diclinous, in its non-persistent perianth, and in its possessing 



1 Sassaffras officinale Nees, Syst., 488.— Persea Sassaffras SPBENG., St/st., ii. 270.— 



Laurns Sassafras L., Sort. Cliff., 154 ; Mat. Cornm mas odorata, &c, Plukn., Almag., 222, 



Med., 108.— Blackw., Herb., t. 267.— Nees, t. 6.— Catesb., Carol., i. 55, t. 55. 



PI. Offic, t. 131.— Hayne, Arm., 12, t. 19.— 2 Meissn., Prodr., 171. 



