88 CALIFORNIAN UMBELLULARIA. 
north-west coast, in Upper California, by Mr. Menzies, 
who first made known to botanists the vegetable trea- 
sures of that interesting and then unexplored region. 
Douglas afterwards found it in nearly the same country, 
south of the Columbia or Oregon, and adds, that it 
attains the height of from 40 to 120 feet, with a diame- 
ter of from 2 to 4 feet. It commences at the southern 
limit of the prevailing pine and fir forests, which line the 
wastes of Oregon. The foliage gives out, when bruised, 
a most powerful camphorated odour, which from its 
pungency is capable of exciting sneezing. Flow r ering 
specimens of this interesting tree were in Douglas’s 
collection from California. It is to be regretted, how- 
ever, that no detailed description nor figure is given; 
and I had not the good fortune to meet with it myself. 
SASSAFRAS ( Laurus Sassafras. Linn). The inha- 
bitants of North and South Carolina distinguish two 
kinds of Sassafras, the Red and the White. The Red 
or true L. Sassafras I referred (in the Genera of North. 
American plants, vol. 1. p. 259, 260.) to a sub-genus 
Euosmns, embracing also the following variety, which 
I then considered as a species, by the name of L. 
( Euosmus ) albida. It is distinguishable from the Red 
by having the buds and twigs smooth and glaucous; its 
leaves are also smooth and thin, and the veins almost 
obsolete beneath, the petiole is apparently longer. The 
root is much more strongly camphorated than that of 
the Red sort, and is nearly white. It is better calculated 
to answer as a substitute for ochra ( Hibiscus esculentus) 
than the common kind, as the buds and young branches 
are much more mucilaginous. It is abundant in North 
and South Carolina, from the Catawba Mountains to the 
east bank of the Santee, growing with the common 
kinds. 
