158 



LAURACEiE. 



Sassafras. 



Group 3. Flowers perfect or sometimes polygamous, not disposed in anient s, furnished 

 loith a regular and often petaloid calyx. Ovary 1- ( rarely 2-) celled, with 

 solitary ovules, or at least a single seed in each cell. E?nbryo not coiled around 

 albumen. — Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs. 



Order LXXXVII. LAURACEiE. Juss. The Cinnamon Tribe. 



Calyx of 4 - 6 somewhat united petaloid sepals, which are imbricated in two 

 series, free from the ovary. Stamens definite, usually in several series, inserted 

 on the base of the calyx : anthers 2 — 4-celled, opening by recurved valves. 

 Ovary 1-celled, with a single suspended ovule. Fruit a berry or drupe ; the 

 pedicel often thickened. Seed with a large almond-like embryo, destitute of 

 albumen. — Trees or shrubs, with alternate leaves, which are rarely lobed, 

 but never serrate. 



1. SASSAFRAS. Nees, syst. Laurin. p. 487 ; Endl. gen. 2056. sassafras. 



[Altered from the Spanish word Sahafras, signifying Saxifrage, the virtues of which have been attributed to this plant.] 



Flowers dioecious, naked. Calyx 6-parted, membranaceous ; the segments equal, deciduous. 

 Sterile fl. Stamens 9, in three series, all of them perfect ; the three inner ones with a 

 pair of somewhat stipitate glands at the base of each : anthers oblong, 4-cclIed. Ovary 

 abortive. Fertile fl. Stamens 6, short, imperfect. Ovary ovoid, acuminate : style short: 

 stigma capitate. Drupe with a crustaceous endocarp, seated on the thickened and fleshy 

 pedicel. — Trees, with deciduous, sometimes lobed leaves. Flowers unfolding before the 

 leaves, in terminal corymbose or racemose clusters, yellow. 



1. Sassafras officinale, Nees. Sassafras. 



Leaves ovate, entire or 2 - 3-lobed ; the younger ones, with the buds and pedicels, silky- 

 pubescent. — Nees, syst. Laur. p. 488 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 137. Laurus Sassafras, 

 Linn. sp. 1. p. 371 ; Michx. fl. 1. p. 244 ; Michx. sylv. 2. t. 81 ; Pursh, fl. I. p. 277 ; 

 Nutt. gen. 1. p. 259 ; Bigel. med. hot. 3. p. 142. t. 35, and fl. Bost. p. 160 ; Ell. sk. 1. 

 p. 464 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 409 ; Beck, hot. p. 305 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 254 ; Audub. birds, 

 t. 144. 



A middle-sized tree ; the trunk rarely one foot in diameter ; the bark gray externally, dull 

 reddish within ; the younger twigs are greenish yellow. Leaves of two forms ; some of them 

 ovate and entire ; others 2- or mostly 3-lobed, and cuneate at the base : the former usually 



