introduced in 1821. The leaves are alternate, petiolated, of a yel lowish or apple green on the upper side, and very glaucous on the under, with the three nerves uniting a little above the insertion of the petiole, and terminating short of the point of the leaf. The young shoots are axillary, and come out from among the flowers, and are furnished with several membranaceous slightly coloured scales, or a sort of stipules, which are very deciduous. It is rather tender; but, from the locality, where it is indigenous, it would probably succeed with very little protection against a conservative wall.

L. faetens Ait, L. madeirénsis Lam., Persea for tens Spreng., is a native of Madeira, and the Canary Islands, introduced in 1760, and producing its greenish yellow flowers from March to October. In its native country it forms a small tree 20 ft. high; but in British gardens it is commonly kept in a green-house, or in a cold-pit. The plant, however, in the Horticultural Society's Garden, has stood out as a bush since 1831, and is now upwards of 4 ft. high. There can be little doubt that this, and the other species enumerated as half-hardy, would stand against a wall with very little protection. L. Myrrha Lour. is a native of China, which has stood against a wall in the Horticultural Society's Garden since 1832. It is generally injured more or less when the winters are severe; but it always springs up again, and grows vigorously during summer.

L. indica L. is an evergreen tree, with noble foliage, which lives and attains a considerable size in our conservatories and green-houses; and

there can be little doubt that in the south of England it would live against a conservative wall, at least as well as the orange and the lemon.

C. Leaves deciduous.

5. L. SASSAFRAS L. The Sassafras Laurel, or Sassafras Tree.

Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff., 154., Gron. Virg., 46,; Kalm It., 2. p. 270. 434.; Mill. Dict., No. 7.; Trew Ehret, t. 59, 60.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 485.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836.

Synonymes. Cornus más odorata, folio trifido, margine plano, Sassafras dicta, Pluk. Alm., 120, t. 222 f.6., Catesb. Car., 1. p. 55. t. 55.. Seligm. Av. Ic., 2. t. 10.; Sassafras arbor, ex Florida, ficulneo folio, Bauh. Pin., 431.; Sassafras sp. C. G. Nees Von Esenbeck; Pérsea Sússafras Spreng.; Laurier Sassafras, Fr.; Sassafras Lorbeer, Ger.

Engravings. Trew Ehret, t. 59, 60.; Blackw. Herb., t. 267.; Giesecke Ic., fasc. 1. No. 9.; Pluk. Alm., t. 222. f. 6.; Catesb Car., 1. t. 55.; Seligm. Av. Ic., 2. t. 10. ; and plates in our last Volume. Spec. Char., &c. Sexes dioecious. Habit arborescent. Both leaves and flowers are produced from the same buds. Buds, younger branches, and the under surface of the leaves, pubescent. Leaves entire, or with 2-3 lobes. Veins prominent on the under side. Flowers in corymbose conglomerate racemes. Anthers with 4 unequal cells. In the female flower, additionally to the pistil, are 6 gland-like bodies, like those in the male flowers. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.). A deciduous tree, from 40 ft. to 50 ft. high. A native of North America. Introduced in 1633, and flowering in April and May.

Varieties. Nuttall states (Gen. & Cat. N. A. P.) that the inhabitants of North and South Carolina distinguished two kinds of sassafras, the red and the white, calling the latter, also, the smooth. The red he identifies with the L., subgenus Euósmus Nutt., Sassafras L.; and the white or smooth he considers a species belonging to the same subgenus, which he calls L. E. álbida Nutt., and of which he has adduced the following characteristics. Its buds and younger branches are smooth and glaucous; its leaves are every where glabrous and thin, and the veins are obsolete on the under surface; the petiole is longer. He had not seen it in flower. The root is much more strongly camphorated than the root of the red sort (L. Sássafras), and is nearly white. This kind is better calculated to answer as a substitute for ochra (Hibiscus esculentus) than the L. Sassafras, from its buds and young branches being much more mucilaginous. It is abundant in North and South Carolina, from the Catawba Mountains to the east bank of the Santee, growing with L. Sassafras, which, in North Carolina, is less abundant. (Nut. Gen., i. p. 259, 260.)

Description, &c. The sassafras tree often grows, even in England, to the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft. (See plate of the tree at Syon, in our last Volume.) The leaves, which vary very much in size and shape, are covered, when they first appear, with a soft woolly down; they are generally deeply lobed, on long footstalks, and of a pale green; they fall off early in autumn. flowers are of a greenish yellow, and but slightly odoriferous; the berries are oval, of a bright but deep blue, and contained in small dark red cups,

The

supported by long red peduncles. These berries are greedily devoured by birds, and consequently do not remain long on the tree. The bark of the young branches is smooth, and beautifully green; but, when old, it becomes of "a greyish colour, and is chapped into deep cracks. On cutting into it, it exhibits a dark dull red, a good deal resembling the colour of Peruvian bark." (Micha. N. Amer. Syl., ii. p. 146.) In the United States the sassafras is found as far north as lat. 43°; but it there appears only as a tall shrub, rarely exceeding 15 ft. or 20 ft. in height. In the neighbourhood of New York and Philadelphia, however, it grows to the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft., and attains a still greater size in the southern states. It is abundant from "Boston to the banks of the Mississippi, and from the shores of the ocean in Virginia to the remotest wilds of Upper Louisiana beyond the Missouri, comprising an extent in each direction of more than 1800 miles." (Michx.) "The sassafras, on account of its medicinal properties, was one of the first American trees which became known to Europeans. Monardez, in 1549, and after him Clusius," treat of its uses. Gerard calls it the ague tree, and says, that a decoction of its bark will cure agues, and many other diseases. The bark is still employed in medicine, that of the roots being preferred; and it is said to be an excellent sudorific. A decoction of the chips is well known as a remedy for scorbutic affections. In different parts of the United States, a tea is made of the flowers, which is considered very efficacious in purifying the blood. In Louisiana the leaves are used to thicken pottage; and in Virginia a beer is made of the young shoots. The sassafras chips which are sold in the English druggists' shops are formed of the wood of this tree; but what are called the sassafras nuts are the fruit of the Laúrus Pùcheri of the Flora Peruviana. (See Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot.) Bigelow says that this tree is produced in almost every part of the United States. "It not only inhabits every latitude from New England to Florida, but we are told it is also found in the forests of Mexico, and even in those of Brazil. Its peculiar foliage, and the spicy qualities of its bark, render it a prominent object of notice, and it seems to have been one of the earliest trees of the North American continent to attract the attention of Europeans. Its character, as an article of medicine, was at one time so high, that it commanded an extravagant price, and treatises were written to celebrate its virtues. It still retains a place in the best European pharmacopæias." (Bigelow's American Botany, vol. 1. p.141.) He adds that" the bark has an agreeable smell, and a fragrant spicy taste. The flavour of the root is more powerful than that of the branches; and both flavour and odour reside in a volatile oil, which is readily obtained from the bark by distillation. The bark and pith of the young twigs abound with a pure and delicate mucilage; and in this mucilage and the volatile oil all the medicinal virtues of the tree are contained. The bark and wood were formerly much celebrated in the cure of various complaints, particularly in rheumatism and dropsy; but they are now only recognised as forming a warm stimulant and diaphoretic." (Ibid.) The sassafras is of little value as a timber tree. In America, the wood, which is white or reddish, is sometimes used for making bedsteads and other articles of furniture, which are not liable to be attacked by insects, and have a most agreeable odour, which they retain as long as they are sheltered from the sun and rain. The wood is of very little esteem for fuel; and the "bark contains a great deal of air, and snaps while burning like that of the chestnut." (Michx.) The most interesting historical recollection connected with this tree is, that it may be said to have led to the discovery of America; as it was its strong fragrance, smelt by Columbus, that encouraged him to persevere when his crew mutinied, and enabled him to convince them that land was near at hand.

Soil, Propagation, &c. Any free soil, rather moist than dry, will suit this species, which is generally propagated from imported seeds, which should be sown or put in a rot-heap, as soon as received, as they remain a year, and sometimes two or three years, in the ground, before they come up. The sassafras may also be propagated by cuttings of the roots, or by suckers, which

the roots of old trees (at Syon, for example,) throw up in great abundance. The situation where the tree is finally planted should be sheltered; and, in the north of England and in Scotland, to insure fine foliage, it should be planted against a wall.

Statistics. Laurus Sassafras in England. In the environs of London, the largest tree is at Syon, where it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 8 in., and of the head 29 ft. At Kew, it is 40 ft. high. In the Fulham Nursery, it is 30 ft. high. In the Mile End Nursery, it is 21 ft. high. South of London, in the Isle of Jersey, in Saunders's Nursery, 14 years planted, it is 12 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 9 ft. In Kent, at Cobham Hall, 30 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, and the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in. In Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, 30 years planted, it is 22 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 2 in., and of the head 12 ft. North of London, in Worcestershire, at Croome, 40 years planted, it is 25 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 12 ft. L. Sassafras in Scotland. In the Isle of Bute, at Mount Stewart, it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 in., and of the head 5 ft.

L. Sássafras in Ireland. In the environs of Dublin, at Castletown, it is 28 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in. North of Dublin, in Galway, at Coole, it is 19 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 12 in., and of the head 22 ft. In Louth, at Oriel Temple, 12 years planted, it is 9 ft. high, the diameter of head 5 ft.

L. Sassafras in Foreign Countries. In France, at Sceaux, 10 years planted, it is 15 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 6 ft. In the neighbourhood of Nantes, 24 years planted, it is 30 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diameter. In the Botanical Garden at Avranches, 29 years planted, it is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 12 ft. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 12 years planted, it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 5 ft. Commercial Statistics. Plants in the London nurseries, are 5s. each; and seeds 68. a quart; at Bollwyller, plants are 2 francs and 30 cents each; and at New York, 25 cents.

6. L. BENZOIN L. The Benzoin Laurel, or Benjamin Tree. Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff., 154.; Gron. Virg., 46.; Mill. Dict., No. 6.; Willd. Arb., 165.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 485.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836.

Synonymes. Arbor virginiana citreæ vel limonii folio, Benzoinum fundens, Comm. Hort., 1. p. 189. t. 97.; Laúrus æstivalis Wangh. Amer., 87.; L. Pseudo- Benzoin Mich. Fl. Amer., 1. p. 243.; L. Euósmus Benzoin Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259.; Benzoin, sp. C. G. Nees Von Esenbeck; Spice Bush, Spice Wood, or wild Allspice, Amer., according to Nuttall; Laurier faux Benzoin, Fr.; Benzoin Lorbeer,

Ger.

Engravings. Comm. Hort., 1. t. 97.; Pluk. Alm., t. 139. f. 34; and our fig. 1171.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves cuneate-obovate, entire, the under side whitish and partly pubescent, deciduous. Sexes polygamous. Flowers in umbels. Buds and pedicels of the umbels glabrous. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) Leaves without nerves, ovate, acute at both ends. (Willd. Sp. Pl., ii. p. 485.) A deciduous shrub, a native of Virginia, where it grows to the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. It was introduced in 1688, and is not unfrequent in collections. In British gardens, it forms a rather tender peat-earth shrub, handsome from its large leaves, but seldom thriving, except where the soil is kept moist and the situation sheltered. The bark of L. Benzoin is highly aromatic, stimulant, and tonic, and is extensively used in North America in intermittent fevers. The oil of the fruit is said to be stimulant. (Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot., on the information of Barton.) The true Benjamin tree, or gum benzoin, is not, as Ray supposed, this Laúrus Benzoin, but a species of Styrax ; as was first shown by the late Mr. Dryander, in the Philoso

phical Transactions for 1787, p. 307, t. 12. (Rees's Cyclop.) Laúrus Benzoin is propagated from imported seeds, which require to be treated like those of Laurus Sassafras.

Statistics. The largest plant, in the neighbourhood of London, is at Ham House, where it is 15 ft. high; at Syon, it is 14 ft. high; at Kew, 6 ft high; in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 8 ft. high. In Sussex, at Westdean, 14 years planted, it is 12 ft. high. In Warwickshire, at Newnham Paddocks, 10 years planted, it is 5 ft. high. In Worcestershire, at Croome, 15 years planted, it is 15 ft. high; at Hagley, 12 years planted, it is 6 ft. high. In Ireland, at Oriel Temple, 12 years planted, it is 6ft. high. In Germany, near Vienna, at Brück on the Leytha, 25 years planted, it is 15 ft. high. At Berlin, in the Botanic Garden, 14 years planted, it is 10 ft. high. In Italy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 14 ft. high.

Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, 1s. 6d. each, and seeds 6s. a quart; at Bollwyller, 2 francs; and at New York,

25 cents.

7. L. (B.) DIOSPY'RUS Pers. The Diospyrus-like Laurel, or Bay. Identification. Pers. Syn., 1. p. 450.; Bot. Mag., t. 1470.; where Dr. Sims states that Persoon's epithet, Diospy rus, is an abbreviation of Michaux's one of diospyröides. Synonymes. L. Euósmus Diospyrus Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; L. diospyröides Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 243. ; ? L. melissæfòlia Walt. Fl. Car., 134. Dr. Sims (Bot. Mag., t. 1470.) states that he has not much doubt that the L. melissæ folia Walter is identical with this species; and he adds that Mr. Fraser, who was the friend of Walter, and editor of his work, always considered it as such, and has remarked that "the leaves are not at all like those of the balm; but it was, probably, the scent, not the form, that suggested the appellation."

Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 1470.; and our fig. 1172.

Spec. Char., &c. Habit low, surculose, twiggy. Leaves oblong-oval and entire, the under side veiny and pubescent, deciduous. Flower buds and pedicels villous. Sexes dioecious. Fruit large. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) A running twiggy shrub, 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, in its native swamps, in Virginia and Carolina; introduced in 1810. Leaves opaque, oblong-oval, attenuated towards the base, entire, the under side veiny and pubescent, deciduous. Scales of the buds purple, villous. Younger branches villous. Sexes dioecious. Flower buds and pedicels villous. Flowers disposed in sessile umbeled groups, 3-5 in a group. Perfect stamens 9. Gland-like bodies large, orange yellow. Fruit larger than that of L. Benzoin, oblong-ovate, scarlet, upon thick and distinct pedicels Cotyledons large, thick, oily, attached by near their base to the remainder of the embryo. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) It is what may be deemed the male sex that is represented in Bot.

Mag., t. 1470., and our fig. 1172.; and in the text of the Bot. Mag. is the following interesting information by Dr. Sims, on the structure of its flowers. There were 9 perfect stamens, and an imperfect ovary; and 6 glands on short pedicels, resembling so many little yellow mushrooms, with a warty pileus: the anthers had 2 cells each. (Bot. Mag.) L. Pseudo-Benzoin Michx. is supposed by Dr. Sims (Bot. Mag., t. 1471.) to be either identical with, or a slight variation from, this species. The only plant which we have seen bearing the name of L. Diospyrus is at White Knights, where it so closely resembles L. Benzoin, as to leave no doubt in our mind that Dr. Sims's conjecture was right.

8. L. (B.) ESTIVALIS L. The summer Laurel, or Willow-leaved Bay. Identification. Lin. Sp., 529.; Syst., 384.; Mart. Mill., No. 24.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 485. Synonymes. L. enérvia Mill. Dict., No. 8.; L. Euósmus æstivalis Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; Pond bush, Amer.; Sommer Lorbeer, Ger.

Engraving. Catesb. Car., 2. t. 28.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves oblong-acuminate, entire, glabrous, veiny, deciduous. Flowers in umbels. Sexes polygamous. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) Dr. Sims has noted, incidentally, in the Bot. Mag., t. 1470., that there are two different specimens of the L. æstivalis in the Banksian herbarium; that one of them, the flowering specimen from Jacquin's herbarium, is evidently a specimen of the L. geniculata Bot Mag., t. 1471.; and that the other, in the leaves, is similar to the L. Diospyrus Bot. Mag., t. 1470. Farther, Dr. Sims has noted, t. 1471., that it is not easy to say to which species L. æstivalis really belongs, and that if Linnæus had meant the character of supra-axillary branches to describe that the buds are produced below the branches, and not in the axils of them, it is as applicable to the allied L. Diospyrus and L. geniculata. (Bot. Mag., t. 1470.) A shrub, about 6 ft. or 8 ft. high, a native of Virginia, in the swamps which intersect the pine barrens. Introduced in 1775. There was a plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, some years ago, which is since dead.

9. L. GENICULA TA Michx. The knee-flexed-branched Laurel, or Bay. Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 244.; Pers. Synops., 1. p. 450.; Walt. Fl. Car., p. 133. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 276.; Bot. Mag., t. 1471.

Synonymes. L. Euósmus geniculata Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; L. æstivalis Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 484., according to Pursh.

Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 1471.; and our fig. 1173.

Spec. Char., &c. Branches divaricate and flexuous. Leaves cuneate-oblong, mostly obtuse, about 1 in. long, in many instances less than half an inch wide, entire, glabrous, except upon the under side near the base. Flowers in terminal small umbels, that are upon con

spicuous footstalks and smooth. Anthers unequally 4-celled. Sexes polygamous. (Nutt. Gen.,i. p. 259.) Nuttall adds that this kind grows from 8 ft. to 12 ft. high, and that the branches are flexuous, grey, smooth, and so remarkably divaricated as to give a characteristic appearance to the pods which they border; and that its native localities are, invariably, sandy swamps, and the margins of lagoons, from Virginia to Florida. Dr. Sims has noted that the zigzag direction and deep colour of the branches distinguish the L. geniculata at first sight; and that he could not perceive in its bark any of the aromatic scent so remarkable in most of the genus, and which is so clearly perceptible in L. Benzoin. Pursh states that the flowers are yellow, and the berries globose and scarlet. We received a plant of this species from Bartram's Botanic Garden, in 1831: it appeared very distinct; but, owing to the crowded state of our garden, and the want of moisture, it died in the summer of 1834. Price of plants, at New York, 1 dollar.

1173

App. I. Half-hardy Species of Lauracea.

Cinnamomum Camphora Swt. Laúrus Camphora L., the Camphor tree, (N. Du Ham, 2. t. 35.; Bot. Mag., t. 2658; and our fig.1174.) is a native of Japan, and other parts of Eastern India, where it grows to the height of the European lime tree, and makes a fine appearance, from its glossy

shining leaves. The wood is white, with reddish waxy leaves, and the odour of camphor is exhaled from it, and from every other part of the plant. Camphor, and camphor oil, are well known medicines, which are obtained from this tree. Camphor is considered one of the principal diaphoretics, and is of a particularly subtile and penetrating

nature, quickly diffusing itself through the whole human frame. It is used in a great variety of medical preparations. Camphor is obtained from the tree by splitting the wood into small pieces, and distilling it with water in an iron retort, covered with an earthen or wooden pot, in the hollow of which hay or straw is placed, to which the camphor adheres as it rises with the steam of the water. It is at first of a brownish white, and in very small particles, but, after being redistilled, it is compressed into the lumps which we see in the shops. The camphor used in Europe is chiefly imported from Japan. Camphor oil is obtained by making an incision in the trunk of the tree, and inserting a small tube of reed, through which the sap exudes, from which the oil is obtained by skimming. In British gardens the camphor tree is commonly kept in green-houses or cold-pits; and we have no doubt whatever, that, with a moderate degree of protection, it would live against a conservative wall. C. rerum Swt.; Laúrus Cinnamomum L.; L. Cássia Bot. Mag., 1636.; and our fig. 1175.; the