Surgical apparatus including surgical buttress

A surgical staple cartridge assembly for selective use with a surgical stapling apparatus having a first jaw in the form of an anvil assembly and a second jaw configured to selectively receive a staple cartridge assembly, the staple cartridge assembly comprising:

• a cartridge housing defining a longitudinal axis, the cartridge housing including a tissue contacting surface having a plurality of rows of staple retaining slots formed therein, wherein the cartridge housing defines a knife slot;
• a staple disposed in each staple retaining slot;
• and
• a surgical buttress having a first body portion secured to and overlying the tissue contacting surface of the cartridge housing so that a longitudinal axis of the first body portion of the surgical buttress is substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the cartridge housing, the surgical buttress further including a second body portion extending distally from a proximal portion of the first body portion so that the second body portion extends at least partially over the first body portion;
• wherein the proximal portion of the first body portion and a proximal portion of the second body portion of the surgical buttress each include a notch formed therein, each notch being axially aligned with the knife slot.