104 



the other. Of the leaves here studied two hundred and seventy- 

 six, or 55.2 per cent, were of class one, while two hundred and 

 twenty-four, or 44.8 per cent, belonged to class two. Thus the 

 opposite type is apparently the more common. 







TIPS 



OF 



SASSAFRAS LEAVES 

















60 



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H 





 < 



s 



3 



6^ 



h- 

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2: 



1- 



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 1- i 



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Figure 3. ■ 



According to the outline of the base, the leaves were divided 

 into four classes. The first of these (Fig. 4) may be called the 

 acute type. The second (Fig. 5) is wedge-shaped, while the 

 third (Fig. 6) is the rounded type. The fourth class consists 

 of mixed types. For example one side of the base of the blade 

 may be wedge-shaped and the other may be rounded, and so on 

 through the various possible combinations. A curve (Fig. 7) 

 based upon these four classes shows at a glance that the acute 

 type (Fig. 4) leads all the others. 



An attempt may now be made to formulate what may be re- 

 garded as the chief characters of the most common sassafras 

 leaves. The study just completed shows that such a leaf is 



