LAUEEL FA^tlTLY. 



285 



inner ones. Styles 3, short ; stigmas large, miiltifid. Akene triquetrous, 

 winged at the angles, surrounded at base by the withered calyx. Her- 

 baceous : leaves chiefly radical, large ; flowers fasciculate, racemose-panic- 

 ulate. 



1. R. Rhapon'ticoi, Ait. Leaves cordate-OTate, rather obtuse, — the 

 sinus at base dilated ; petioles with a shallow channel above, rounded at 

 the edges. 



Rhapoxtic Eheum. Rhubark. Pie Rhubarb. 



Eoot perennial, tubcrQus, large, rcddisli-brown, yellow within. Stem 3-5 feet high, 

 stout, striate-sulcate, smoothish, fistular, paniculately branched at summit. Eadical 

 leaves becoming very large (18 inches to 2 feet long), smoothish above, pubescent on the 

 veins beneath ; pdioles thick and succulent, 4-8 or 10 inches long, — the stem-leaves 

 smaller, and petioles shorter, as they ascend ; stipules large, membranaceous, sheathing. 

 Flmvers in large terminal racemose panicles, — thcpedicels fasciculate, slender, one-third 

 to half an inch long, articulated near the middle. Sepals greenish, with white margins, — 

 the outer ones rather narrow. Stigmas large, multifld, retlexed. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native of Scythia. Fl. May. Fr. July -August. 



Obs. Frequently cultivated for the sake of its fleshy acid petioles — 

 which are used by the pastry cook, in early spring, as a substitute for 

 fruit, in making pies. The root of other species affords the medicinal 

 Rhubarb, and this species is cultivated in England for its roots, which 

 form an inferior kind of the drug. 



Order LXI. LAURA' CEJE. (Laurel Family.) 



Arom iti'^ ir<:''s or shnibs with alternate simple leaves, without stipules, and clustered often 

 j;nhu-ijiL( !ous^it.'ers; calyxoi i-G colored sepals, imbricated in two rows in the 

 1)111 ; 'lefiuite, usually more numerous than the sepals ; anthers 2-4-celled, open- 



ing by apuri 'd persistent valves ; style single ; fruit a 1-seeded berry or drupe. Seed sus- 

 P'.-ndi'd, without allmmen. 



Thi' tropical plants of this Order are highly interesting, — affording Cinnamon, Cassia 

 and Camphor ; and also that species of Laurus (L. nobilis, L.) of which the ancients 

 formed their Laurel wreaths or crowns. The species in the United States are of less im- 

 portance. 



1. SAS'SAFRAS, Nees. Sassafras. 



[Altered from Salsaf ras, the Spanish name.] 



Flowers dioecious. Sepals 6, membranaceous, united at base, persistent. 

 Stam. Fl. Stamens 9, in three series, all fertile, — the 3 innermost with 

 a pair of stipitate glands at base ; anthers introrse, linear, 4-celled. 

 Pistillate Fl. Stamens 6, all sterile. Berry on a thickened clavate 

 fleshly pedicel. Trees with leaves often lobed but the margins entire, 

 and greenish yellow flowers in corymbose racemes, appearing with the 

 leaves. 



1. S. officina'le, Nees. Leaves ovate or some of them 3-lobed and 

 caneate at base ; drupe dark blue ; peduncle purple. 



Officixal Sass-^fras. Sassafras. 



