(I2 4 ) 



shining and gives to the foliage its lustrous green color. In 

 May or June the beautiful flowers appear. They are always 

 solitary at the ends of young twigs, and their tulip-like form 

 has given the tree its popular name. The orange-yellow or 

 greenish-yellow color of the flowers is very conspicuous, and, 

 as the flowers frequently exceed i l / 2 inches in depth, the 

 tree is very attractive in full bloom. The cone-like fruits 

 develop the same autumn and shed their seeds after the tree 

 has become bare. 



It is often known as the yellow poplar, saddle-leaf or 

 white-wood, and under the latter name it is much used for 

 carpentry. The native home of the tulip tree is from Mas- 

 sachusetts to Florida and westward. In the upper Hudson 

 Valley it is rare and it is probable that most of the trees 

 above Poughkeepsie are cultivated or derivatives of plants 

 once cultivated. South of this point it is common. (Plate 

 I43-) 



Sassafras Tree Sassafras Sassafras 



In central New York and Massachusetts which are the 

 northern limits of the sassafras it is often a mere shrub but 

 occasional trees are seen and they frequently exceed 30 to 40 

 feet in height. Further south the tree attains a height of 

 80 or 90 feet. Even on young trees the bark is very coarsely- 

 fissured and brownish in color. 



There is a bewildering variety of leaf shape on most 

 sassafras trees. On the same twig one often finds unlobed 

 oval-shaped leaf-blades, intermixed with leaves lobed on one 

 or both sides. When fully mature they usually have two 

 prominent lateral lobes and a terminal one. In all forms 

 the base of the blade is more or less wedge-shaped. At the 

 ends of the twigs, and appearing with or before the leaves, 

 the yellow-green flowers are clustered. Each cluster is at 

 first enclosed by a green bud. The fruits are almost round, 

 more or less fleshy and scarcely more than y 2 inch in di- 

 ameter. They ripen in August or September. 



Oil-of-sassafras is extracted from the roots and bark, and 



