412 
DECIDUOUS TREES. 
the soil is rich and warm, in our woods, and by road-sides, it is 
certainly the most neglected, considering the rare beauty of its 
foliage, of all our native trees. Its qualities are peculiarly those 
which adapt it to the embellishment of small pleasure-grounds. 
The most aromatic tree of the woods, it is also one of the most 
suggestive, by its umbelliferous form and sunny expression, of the 
warmth of those southern climates in which the other members of 
the laurel family flourish. Though it never becomes more than a 
middle-sized tree, the deep furrows of its warm brown bark, the 
angular ruggedness of its branches, and the flattened form and 
horizontal shadows of its head, give it an air of age and dignity 
unusual in trees of its size ; while the pure color, abundance, 
and fine-cut outline of its leaves, add a refined expression during 
its period of foliage. The young wood is smooth, and of a beau- 
tiful green color. The leaves come late, and drop with the first 
frosts, but their autumn colors are among the purest, and occa- 
sionally the most brilliant : oftenest a bright lemon yellow, but not 
seldom spangled with red, and some- 
times an entire mass of soft crimson. 
The leaves vary in form on the same 
tree, as will be seen by the engraving, 
Fig. 13 1, some being entire and pointed- 
elliptical in form, and others three and 
two-lobed. They are from four to six 
inches long, of smooth outline, soft tex- 
ture, and warm green color. The fo- 
liage breaks into softly-rounded hori- 
zontal layers, drooping on the exterior 
to catch and reflect the sun, so that 
they present to the eye broader and warmer masses of light than 
most trees of similar size. Grown thriftily, in open grounds, 
the sassafras is one of the most, if not the most, elegant small 
tree of the north. Fig. 130 gives a tolerable idea of the sassafras 
as a mature tree, but is less umbrella-formed than the usual type. 
Figs. 57 and 58, page 260, show some characteristic forms of the 
sassafras, grown in woods, and in open ground. But no engraving 
will do justice to the pleasing lights and soft outline of the tree, 
Fig. 131. 
