The _bark_ of the trunk is thick, red-brown and deeply furrowed and that
of the twigs is bright green.
The _leaves_ are very characteristic. It is one of the few trees having
leaves of widely different shape on the same tree, or even on the same
twig. Some are oval and entire, 4 to 6 inches long; others have one
lobe, resembling the thumb on a mitten; while still others are divided
at the outer end into 3 distinct lobes. The young leaves and twigs are
quite mucilaginous.
The _flowers_ are clustered, greenish, yellow, and open with the first
unfolding of the leaves. The staminate and pistillate flowers are
usually on different trees. The _fruit_ is an oblong, dark blue or
black, lustrous berry, containing one seed and surrounded at the base by
what appears to be a small orange-red or scarlet cup at the end of a
scarlet stalk.
The _wood_ is light, soft, weak, brittle, and durable in the soil; the
heartwood is dull orange-brown. It is used for posts, rails, boat
building, cooperage and for ox-yokes. The bark of the roots yields the
very aromatic oil of sassafras much used for flavoring candies and
various commercial products.
The sassafras deserves more consideration than it has received as a
shade and ornamental tree. The autumnal coloring of its foliage is
scarcely surpassed by any tree, and it is very free from insect pests.
+SWEET GUM+ _Liquidambar styraciflua_ L.
THE sweet or red gum is a very common tree on low lands in southern
Illinois, but it is seldom found north of Jackson County in the west or
north of Richland in the east. It is usually abundant in old fields or
in cut-over woods. The _bark_ is a light gray, roughened by corky
scales, later becoming deeply furrowed. After the second year the twigs
often develop 2 to 4 corky projections of the bark, which give them a
winged appearance.
[Illustration: SWEET GUM