TKEES AXD SHRUBS FUBNISHING MEDICINAL BASKS 



25 



and uneven. There is a pronounced heavy, unpleasant odor, and the taste is 

 aromatic, pungent, bitter, and somewhat astringent. The runt bark is some- 

 what darker than that of the tree and is considered much more powerful. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — In spring the bark is easily separated from the 

 wood: the outer layer is shaved off, and the inner bark is then peeled in large 

 slabs about G inches in width and from 3 to 6 feet in length. The root bark 

 is collected in winter. 



Collectors receive from about li to 3 cents a pound. 



The bark of the tulip-poplar is regarded as a bitter, stimulant tonic, and is 

 considered useful in fevers, rheumatism, and digestive disorders. 



SASSAFRAS. 



Sassafras .sassafras iL) Karst 



».V Eberin. 



sassafras variifolium 



saloop, smelling 



Pharmacopaial natnt . — Sassafras. 

 Synonyms. — sassafras officinale Xees 

 (Salisb.) O. Kuutze. a 

 Other common names. — Ague-tree, saxifrax. cinnamonwood, 



stick. 



Habitat and range — Sassafras is a native tree, occurring in rich woods from 

 Massachusetts to Ontario and Michigan, south to Florida and Texas. 



Description of tree. — Sometimes the sassafras reaches almost 100 feet in 

 height, its greatest height being attained in the South, but in the North it occurs 

 principally as a shrub. The bark of old trees is rough and fissured, and of a 

 grayish color, but the young twigs are smooth and green. The leaves are very 

 variable in outline — some oval, some with three lobes, and some with but one 

 lobe on the side, shaped like a mitten < fig. 20). The flowers are yellowish green 

 and fragrant, and are borne in inconspicuous clusters, the staminate and pistil- 

 late on different trees: they appear 

 in early spring, about the time that 

 the leaves unfold. The fruit, which 

 ripens about September, is oblong 

 roundish, about the size of a pea, dark 

 blue, one seeded, and borne on a thick, 

 club-shaped red stalk (fig. 20). All 

 parts of the tree are aromatic. It be- 

 longs to the laurel family (Lauracea?). 

 The wood is light, but strong and dur- 

 able, whitish or with a reddish tinge, 

 and also aromatic, except in the older 

 trees. 



Description of baric. — The dried bark 

 of the root of sassafras is official in 

 the United States Pharruacopceia. As 

 it occurs in the shops, it is in irregu- 

 lar curved pieces of varying length ; 

 smooth, the outer grayish layer hav- 

 ing been removed : rusty red, soft, and 

 breaking with a short, cork-like frac- 

 ture. The inside of the bark is marked with short, indefinite lines. The odor 

 is very aromatic, and the taste is sweetish, bitingly aromatic, and astringent. 



Fig. 20.- 



Sassafras [Sassafras sassafras), 

 leaves and fruits. 



°The pharinacopceial usage. 



139 



