being scarcely developed, entire in margin, and on a short stalk about } inch long. The second leaf, ¾ inch long, is obovate-spathulate, entire in margin, very unequalsided, rounded at the apex, and tapering at the base. Succeeding leaves (six in all being produced by August) are oval, 1½ to 2½ inches long, stalked, unequal-sided, pinnately-veined, slightly undulate in margin; pale green and glabrous, with a raised midrib beneath.
Identification
In summer Sassafras is readily distinguishable by the aromatic leaves of different shapes, entire and two- to three-lobed, and by the branchlets, without stipules or their scars, remaining green for two or three years. In winter (Plate 200, Fig. 6) the following characters are available:—Twigs glabrous, green, shining, brittle, and strongly aromatic in odour when broken; lenticels few and inconspicuous; pith wide and mucilaginous. Leaf-scars alternate, oblique on prominent pulvini, very small, semicircular with a raised rim, and showing a transverse band of minute coalesced bundle-dots. Terminal buds ovoid, with a long sharp beak; external scales, four to five, imbricated, slightly pubescent, ciliate, green, often ridged or veined. Lateral buds minute, arising from the twigs at about an angle of 45°. Base of the shoot marked by ring-like scars, indicating where the scales of the previous season's terminal bud have' fallen off. (A.H.)
Distribution
Sassafras occurs usually in rich, sandy, well-drained soil; and is widely spread in the eastern half of the United States, crossing into Canada in Southern Ontario. The northern limit passes through the southern parts of Maine, Vermont, and Ontario to Central Michigan, whence the western limit is continued through Eastern Kansas and the Indian Territory, to the valley of the Brazos river in Texas. On the eastern side it extends from Maine to Central Florida. In the South Atlantic and Gulf States it often takes possession of abandoned fields.
In America the tree is very handsome at all seasons of the year, the light green foliage of summer turning delicate shades of yellow, orange, and red in autumn. The fruit, which is abundantly produced in some years, is showy, the berries dark blue in colour contrasting with the scarlet cups in which they sit. The tree produces rootsuckers very freely.
In New England the Sassafras does not often become a tree of considerable size. Emerson[1] states that it rarely reaches 30 feet in height by a foot in diameter, and Michaux says that near Portsmouth, N.H., it is only a tall shrub rarely exceeding 15 to 20 feet high. But near Boston it sometimes grows much larger, and Emerson mentions one which grew at West Cambridge in 1842, and measured nearly 60 by 8 to 9 feet, with a clean straight stem 30 feet long. This tree was felled in order, as he says, "to allow a wall to run in a straight line." But such vandalism as this, which a generation ago was common in New England, is now disappearing; and great care is taken of the few surviving old trees of the original forest. Tree
- ↑ Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, p. 359.
