England; difficult to transplant, but
growing rapidly when established; comes into leaf rather early and holds
its foliage till mid-fall, shedding it in a short time when mature;
adapts itself readily to good, light soils, but grows best in moist
loam. It has few disfiguring insect enemies. Mostly propagated by seed,
but sometimes successfully collected; for sale in the leading nurseries
and usually obtainable in large quantities. Of abnormal forms offered by
nurserymen, one has an upright habit approaching that of the Lombardy
poplar; another has variegated leaves, and another leaves without lobes.

[Illustration: PLATE LIII.--Liriodendron Tulipifera.]

1. Winter bud, terminal.
2. Opening leaf-bud with stipules.
3. Flowering branch.
4. Fruit.
5. Fruit with many carpels removed.
6. Carpel with seeds.

LAURACEAE. LAUREL FAMILY.

=Sassafras officinale, Nees.=

_Sassafras Sassafras, Karst._

SASSAFRAS.

=Habitat and Range.=--In various soils and situations; sandy or rich
woods, along the borders of peaty swamps.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--this tree grows not beyond Black Point (Scarboro, Cumberland
county) eastward (Josselyn's _New England Rarities_, 1672); not reported
again by botanists for more than two hundred years; rediscovered at
Wells in 1895 (Walter Deane) and North Berwick in 1896 (J. C. Parlin);
New Hampshire,--lower Merrimac valley, eastward to the coast and along
the Connecticut valley to Bellows Falls; Vermont,--occasional south of
the center; Pownal (Robbins, Eggleston); Hartland and Brattleboro
(Bates), Vernon (Grant); Massachusetts,--common especially in the
eastern sections; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--Generally a shrub or small tree but sometimes reaching a
height of 40-50 feet and a trunk diameter of 2-4 feet; attaining a
maximum in the southern and southwestern states of 80-100 feet in height
and a trunk diameter of 6-7 feet; head open, flattish or rounded;
branches at varying angles, stout, crooked, and irregular; spray bushy;
marked in winter by the contrasting reddish-brown of the trunk, the
bright yellowish-green of the shoots and the prominent flower-buds, in
early spring by the drooping racemes of yellow flowers, in autumn by the
rich yellow or red-tinted foliage and handsome fruit, at all seasons by
the aromatic odor and spicy flavor of all parts of th