Sassafras. 



173 



unpleasant effect upon the ear could not be well endured, 

 except in the hope that sometime between now and the 

 millennium our botanical nomenclature will acquire some- 

 thing like a stable 

 equilibrium." The 

 tree never grows to 

 a laro;e size, thoueh 

 sometimes rising to 

 a height of forty to 

 fifty feet, and that, 

 too, when the trunk 

 is scarcely more than 

 one or two feet in di- 

 ameter. In the ex- 

 treme North it is little 

 more than a tall slen- 

 der shrub. The bark 

 of the trunk is some- 

 what gray in color, 

 and deeply furrowed, 

 but on the young 

 branches the covering is usually green tinged with red. 

 It is impossible to give a description of its leaf that will 

 fit all cases or even apply wholly to a certain tree, for the 

 sassafras has the peculiarity of bearing leaves that do not 

 resemble each other. They are usually about four inches 

 long, petioled and alternate. Some of them on the same 

 stem are oval and entire ; some have a rather small lobe 

 on each side ; others are lobed on one side and not on the 

 opposite, and still others appear with three lobes. The 



SASSAFRAS OFFICINALE. 



