254 ENNEANDRIA TRIGVNlA 



lower end and reflected upwards. Ovary subglobosc ; style short, tlilck. Drupe 

 oval, dark purple when mature. 



Hub. Moist low grounds ; borders of rich woodlands : frequent. /'V. April. JPV. Sept. 



06*. An aromatic stimulant. A decoction of the branches is often used at a 

 medicinal drink for horned cattle, in the spring of the year. 



2. L. Sassafuas, L. Leaves of two forms, ovate and entire, or lohed, 

 and cuncate at base; flowers in terminal elustered corymbose raceme* 

 \vith lance-linear villose bracts, dioicOTJS by abortion ; buds and pedicels 

 silky-pubescent. Beck, Hot. p. 305. Icon, Jtfx.f. Sylva. 2. tab. 81. 



Vulgo — Sassafras. 



Stem 15 to 30 or 40 feet high, and 6 to 19 inches (sometimes, though rarely, near 

 2 feet) in diameter at base, branching; young branches yellowish greon, and pu- 

 bescent. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long, and '2 to I inches wide, often ovate and entire, 

 but more commonly dilated and.'Mobed at apex, and acute at base (sometimes oval 

 with a lateral lobe), silky-pubescent when young, finally smooth ; petioles half an 

 inch to near an inch long. Plotters in terminal ( lustered racemes, from the same 

 buds and contemporaneous with the leaves, on villose pedicels 1 fourth to half an 

 inch long; bracts villose, as long as the pedicels. Perianth pale greenish yellow ; 

 segments oblong, rather obtuse. Sterile jloicer with i) perfect stamens, the dinner 

 ones with each a large subscssile gland-like abortive anther on each side of its 

 base; ovary abortive. Fertile flower with only a single series of 6 short abortive 

 stamens ; ovary ovoid, acuminate ; stigma capitate, depressed, on a style as long 

 as the ovary ; {stigma nearly sessilo, Torr). Drupe ovoid-oblong, dark blue when 

 mature*, pedicels purple, thickened, clavate. 



Hab. Woodlands ; fence-rows, &c. frequent. Fl. April. Fr. September. 



Obs. This is a powerful aromatic stimulant, and possesses valuable medical 

 properties;— -for an account of which, as well as of those of the preceding species, 

 See Dr. BrockenbrougfCs Inaugural Thesis, 1801, Philad. Five or six additional 

 species arc enumerated in the U. States. 



Order 2. Tri^ynia. 



203. RHEUM. 7,. Gen. PL 692. 



[From Rha, the ancient name uf the river Volga ; its native region.] 



Perianth colored or corolla-like, narrowed at base, G-parted, persistent. 

 Ovary superior, triquetrous ; styles short; stigmas inultifid, rcflexed. 

 Seed solitary, triquetrous, the angles membranaceously margined. 



Herbaceous : leaves alternate, the petioles connected at base with sheathing 

 stipules ; flowers fasciculate, in racemose panicles. Nat. Ord. 156. Lindl. Poly- 



60HBJB. 



1. R. RHAPONTICU3I, Ait. Leaves cordate-ovate, rather obtuse, the 

 sinus at base dilated ; petioles channelled above, rounded at the edge. 

 Willd. Sp. 2. p. 488. 



Rhapontic Rheum. Vulgo — Rhubarb. Pie Rhubarb. 



Root perennial, large, reddish brotcn, yellow within. Stem 3 to 1 feet high, stout , 

 jointed, striate-sulcate, sfioothish, fistular, paniculately branched at summit. Ra- 

 dical leaves becoming very large (18 inches to 2 feet long, and 12 to 18 inches 

 wide), smoothish above, pubescent on the veins beneath ; petioles tlrick, and succu- 

 lent, 4 to 6 or 8 inches long, channelled on the upper side ; stem leaves gradually 

 smaller above, on shorter petioles. Stipules large, membranaceous, sheathing. 



