Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
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Sassafras grows from southwestern Maine west to southern Ontario and central Michigan, southwest to Illinois, Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas, and east to central Florida. This is similar to its native range. Sassafras prefers well-drained, sandy, acidic soil, but can adapt to other well-drained soil.
Fruit: An oblong, 6-8 mm long, dark blue, fleshy drupe. Fruits are borne on a red, club-shaped stem and fall soon after maturation in summer.
Flowers: 1/3" inch wide flowers arranged in terminal clusters. They have six greenish-yellow sepals but no petals. They bloom from March to May, with female trees blooming more profusely than male trees.
Uses: Wood is used to make furniture and boats. Teas and drinks are made from the leaves. The leaves can be dried and ground to form filé powder, a thickening agent commonly used in gumbo.
Ethnobotany: Multiple Native American groups have used sassafras oils in medicinal tonics in the past. Leaves and oils have been used in food, soaps, and fragrances. Root beer used to be made out of the bark of sassafras roots.
Importance to wildlife: All parts of the tree are eaten by a variety of animals. Sassafras is a larval host for Imperial Moths and Spicebush Swallowtails.
The full sassafras plant. It can be classified as either a small tree or a shrub.
All parts of the tree are spicy-aromatic.
The bark of a sassafras. Mature bark is reddish brown and deeply furrowed with rough, broken ridges.
A twig on a sassafras. Leaves follow a simple, alternate arrangement. Twigs are green and glabrous.
The foliage of a sassafras. Notice the different types of leaves. Sassafras leaves can be three-lobed, two-lobed, or unlobed. Leaves are 6-12 cm long, bright green to dull dark green above, and paler and glabrous beneath. In the fall, leaves change to red, orange, or yellow.
A three-lobed sassafras leaf. The three-lobed leaves are palmately veined.
An unlobed sassafras leaf. The unlobed leaves are pinnately veined.
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