TRKES GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



263 



seems as though their wealth of h)veliness had been held in re- 

 serve for a time when other things should have faded, and as a 

 compensation for their rather insignificant showing of flowers 

 in the spring. They cling to the bushes throughout the winter, 

 and are truly snowberries, for of the earth's soft, white cloak 

 they have no dread. 



In North Carolina the shrub is commonly seen, where it is 

 much planted about old farmhouses. Bordering many of the 

 drives of the Biltmore estate it is abundantly growing. The 

 creeping roots of the shrub have a curious way of entangling 

 themselves with other things, and not exactly respecting the 

 laws of independence. On this account it has in some places 

 been rather a nuisance on plantations, as is uniquely suggested 

 to the mind by its name of " Devil's shoe strings." Not infre- 

 quently the snowberry gleams from among rocks and by the 

 banks of streams. 



SASSAFRAS. AGUE TREE. {Plate CXLIII.) 



Sassafras Sdssafras. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT 



Laurel. Heady narroiu^/lat. 1 5-50-90 yiv^. 



RANGE 

 Eastern Mass. south- 

 ivarii and -lOesiward. 



TIME OF BLOOM 



Aprils May. 

 Fruit: A ug.-Oct. 



Bark \ dark, reddish brown ; irregularly broken, and furrowed. Branchlets : 

 VL-llowish grey when young, peeling readily ; aromatic; mucilaginous. Leaves: 

 .-imple; alternate; peticjled ; entire or two to five-iobed ; ovate or obovate; 

 wlien two-iobed usually mitten-shaped; tiie apex of the leaves and lobes 

 bluntly pointed or slightly rounded ; taper-pointed at the base. Sinuses : when 

 the lobes are present, rounded. Dark gieen; shiny, becoming soon glabrous 

 ;ind often sprinkled with ])eliucid dots. Flowers : dioecious ; greenish yellow; 

 growing in umbel-like clusters and appearing with the leaves. Calyx: six- 

 lobed. Stamens: nine. Fruit: blue; growing on red pedicels; oval; one- 

 seeded ; pungent. 



It is always pleasant to come upon the sassafras, either when 

 it grows in rich woods or in the dry, well-drained soil of the 

 roadsides. In the spring especially, its drooping clusters of 

 flowers attract us, as they shine pure and white among its 

 quaint and young, flushed leaves. The large buds and the bark 

 of the crisp, green shoots are also enticing ; for they are gifted 



