170 CLASS IX. ORDER I. 



ENNEANDRIA. 



MONOGYNIA. 



180. LAURUS. 

 4 Subgenus EuosMUs. Polygamous or dioecious. Six cor' 

 puscles instead of the nectary. 



Laurus Benzoin. L. Fever Bush. Spice Wood. 



Leaves obovate, entire, annual ; flowers dioecious. 

 Syn. Laurus Pseudo-benzoin. Mich. 



An aroraatic shrub with a flavor resembling Benzoin. Early 

 in May, before the leaves are fully expanded, it puts forth small 

 sessile umbels of pale greenish flowers. Calyx of six oblong 

 segments. Stamens nine, six exterior and three interior, sepa- 

 rated by six short clavate bodies resembling the filaments with- 

 out anthers. The leaves are oval or inversely ovate, acute at 

 base, slightly acuminate, nearly smooth, pale underneath, and 

 somewhat pubescent. Berries red. It grows in low situations 

 at Brighton and elsewhere, but it is not very common in the en- 

 virons of Boston. 



Laurus Sassafras. L. Sassafras Tree. 



Leaves diciduous, entire, and lobed ; flowers di- 

 cecious. Mich. 



In favorable situations the Sassafras rises into a pretty large 

 tree. The bark of the young twigs is smooth and green. The 

 leaves are partly oval, and partly in two or three large lobes, en- 

 tire on their margin, and downy underneath. The oval ones 

 nppear first. Flowers greenish yellow, appearing in May and 

 June in clusters at the end of the last year's shoots, Bractes 

 linear, pubescent. Petals oblong, obtuse. Stamens in the per- 

 fect flowers six. Style much longer than the stamens. Germ 

 globular. The barren flowers are more umbelled with longer 

 stamens, six exterior and three interior, with six glandular cor- 

 puscles at base. Fruit oval, blue, on fleshly incrassated stalks. 



The whole of the Sassafras tree has a strong, spicy flavor, 

 v.'hich is most powerful in the bark of the root. The young 



