LAUREL FAMILY 95 
1. A. triloba Dunal. Paraw. A small tree, 10-20 ft. high; 
bark nearly smooth, lead-colored. Leaves oblong-obovate, acute at 
the apex, obtuse at the base, rusty-downy when young and becoming 
smoother with age, 6-10 in. long. Flowers on branches of the previ- 
ous season, appearing before or with the leaves; the short peduncles 
and the sepals brown-downy; petals purple, obovate, 3-4 times 
longer than the sepals. Fruit 3-5 in. long, edible when ripe. Com- 
mon on banks of streams, especially S. and S.W. The bark is very 
tough and is often used in the place of rope.* 
38. LAURACEZ. Lavuret Famity ' 
Aromatic plants, nearly always trees or shrubs. Leaves 
alternate, simple, usually entire, and marked with translucent 
dots. Calyx regular, hypogynous, of 4 or 6 colored sepals. 
Stamens in 3 or 4 circles of 3 each, the anthers opening by 
valves. Style single. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or drupe. 
I. SASSAFRAS Nees. 
A tree with rough, yellowish bark and a spreading top. 
Leaves deciduous, entire or 2-3-lobed. Flowers dicecious, 
involucrate, at the end of the twigs of the previous season. 
Calyx 6-parted, persistent in the pistillate flowers. Stamens. 
9, in 3 rows. Pistillate flowers with 4-6 abortive stamens 
and a single ovary. Fruit a drupe.* 
1. S. variifolium Ktze. Sassarras. A tree, usually small and slen- 
der, but sometimes with a trunk 3 ft. in diameter and 125 ft. high. 
Leaves oval, entire, mitten-shaped or 3-lobed, downy when young but 
becoming smooth with age, dark green above, paler below, petiolate. 
Racemes several in a cluster, peduncled; flowers yellow. Stamens 
about as long as the sepals. Fruit dark blue, ovoid, on thickened red 
pedicels. All parts of the tree aromatic. Trees producing pistillate 
flowers rare. Common. The wood is valuable for cabinet making, 
and an aromatic oil is extracted from the bark.* 
If. BENZOIN Fabric. 
Shrubs. Leaves deciduous, entire. Flowers in lateral, sessile 
clusters, appearing before the leaves, dicecious or somewhat 
moneecious. Involucre of 4 scales. Stamens 9 in the staminate 
