=Distribution.=--Maine, southern Ontario to Iowa and south to Florida
and west to Texas. No doubt it was formerly found in every county of
Indiana. In the northern part of the State it is more local in its
distribution than in the southern counties. In the northern counties
where it is local it is found in colonies on sandy or clayey ridges.
Sassafras is usually considered an indicator of poorer soils, hence, in
the central counties it is often very local. It is frequent to common
throughout the hilly counties of the southern part of the State. In this
part of the State it becomes a pernicious weed tree. It soon invades
fence rows and fallow fields, and is extremely difficult to kill out. It
is rarely found in wet situations; however, in Sullivan and Clay
Counties large trees have been observed in low alluvial ground,
associated with the white elm, etc.
=Remarks.=--Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, aromatic, heartwood
brownish. In our area sassafras wood is used principally for posts and
crossties. The roots contain a volatile oil which is much used in
medicine and perfumery. Every one is familiar with the sassafras peddler
who in the Spring sells a small bundle of roots or bark for making
sassafras tea. The tea is reputed "to thin the blood." The aromatic
character of the wood led the earliest inhabitants to attribute many
medicinal and other qualities to the wood which, in many instances
bordered on superstition. In some of the southern States bedsteads were
made of sassafras with the belief that they would produce sounder sleep.
Floors were made of sassafras to keep out the rats and mice. Perches of
chicken houses were made of sassafras poles to keep off the lice. To
successfully make soap, it was necessary to stir the contents of the
kettle with a sassafras stick.
The sassafras is usually about one-fourth of a meter in diameter.
However, on the Charles Hole farm about three miles southeast of
Butlerville grew two of the largest trees of which we have record. The
trees grew within seven meters of each other on a slope now grown up
with large sugar maple. They were cut by Mr. Hole's father, on whose
farm they were located. The largest was cut in the later sixties and the
smaller in the early seventies. The stumps were seen by the writer in
1918. Both are now hollow although the outside is quite solid after
having been cut about fifty years. Chips were cut from the root spurs
and the wood was almost as aromatic as if the tree had just been cut.
"The stumps have been burned at least three times," says Mr. Hole, yet
the smaller now measures 1.09 m. (43 inches) in diameter at a meter
high. The largest stump now measures 1.22 m. (48 inches), in diameter at
a meter high. Mr. Hole says that the smallest tree had a clear hole of
at least 18 meters, and the largest tree was .92 m. (36 inches) in
diameter 20 meters from the stump.
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 free from injurious insect pests. It
adapts itself to almost all kinds of soils, and grows rapidly. It is,
however, transplanted with difficulty; this means only more care in
digging the tree and planting it.
Commonly the sassafras is classed as red and white sassafras. The roots
of the white sassafras are said to be whiter, the aroma of the wood has
a suggestion of camphor, and the wood is less durable. This belief is
common throughout the area of its distribution, but so far as the writer
knows, no scientific work has been published to verify this division of
the species.
Sassafras is extremely variable, but most botanical authors have
considered the many variations as one species. Nuttall in 1818 was the
first author to make a division of the forms, and he has been followed
by some recent authors. Nuttall separated those forms with smooth twigs,
buds, and under surface of leaves, from those with pubescent twigs,
buds, and under surface of leaves. Nieuwland[50] separates a variety
from the smooth forms which he calls =Sassafras albida= variety
=glauca=, and reports it as occurring in the counties in the vicinity of
Lake Michigan.
The writer has at hand 46 specimens from 41 counties in Indiana,
including all of the Lake Michigan Counties, and he has not been able to
find a single character that is constant enough to make a division of
our forms, consequently all the Indiana forms are included under one and
the old name for sassafras.
[Illustration: Plate 70.