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Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

Summary 7

Sassafras albidum (sassafras, white sassafras, red sassafras, or silky sassafras) is a species of Sassafras native to eastern North America, from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas. It occurs throughout the eastern deciduous forest habitat type, at altitudes of sea level up to 1,500 m (5000 feet). It formerly also occurred in southern Wisconsin, but is extirpated there as a native tree.

Description 7

Sassafras albidum is a medium-sized deciduoustree growing to 15–20 m (49–66 ft) tall, with a canopy up to 12 m (39 ft) wide, with a trunk up to 60 cm (24 in) in diameter, and a crown with many slender sympodial branches. The bark on trunk of mature trees is thick, dark red-brown, and deeply furrowed. The shoots are bright yellow green at first with mucilaginous bark, turning reddish brown, and in two or three years begin to show shallow fissures. The leaves are alternate, green to yellow-green, ovate or obovate, 10–15 cm (4–6 in) long and 5–10 cm (2–4 in) broad with a short, slender, slightly grooved petiole. They come in three different shapes, all of which can be on the same branch; three-lobed leaves, unlobed elliptical leaves, and two-lobed leaves; rarely, there can be more than three lobes. In fall, they turn to shades of yellow, tinged with red. The flowers are produced in loose, drooping, few-flowered racemes up to 5 cm (2 in) long in early spring shortly before the leaves appear; they are yellow to greenish-yellow, with five or six tepals.

Habitat & Distrubution 7

It prefers rich, well-drained sandy loam with a pH of 6–7, but will grow in any loose, moist soil. Seedlings will tolerate shade, but saplings and older trees demand full sunlight for good growth; in forests it typically regenerates in gaps created by windblow. Growth is rapid, particularly with root sprouts, which can reach 1.2 m (4 feet) in the first year and 4.5 m (15 feet) in 4 years. Root sprouts often result in dense thickets, and a single tree, if allowed to spread unrestrained, will soon be surrounded by a sizable clonal colony, as its stoloniferous roots extend in every direction and send up multitudes of shoots.

Ecology 7

S. albidum is a host plant for the caterpillar of the promethea silkmoth, Callosamia promethea.

Read More 8

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Wowbobwow12, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sassafras7.jpg
  2. (c) John Beetham, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by John Beetham
  3. (c) Tom Potterfield, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/tgpotterfield/12126922784/
  4. (c) Famartin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020-04-19_10_43_20_Sassafras_flowers_along_Broad_Avenue_in_Ewing_Township,_Mercer_County,_New_Jersey.jpg
  5. (c) Famartin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020-04-20_17_11_31_Sassafras_in_bloom_along_Virginia_Willow_Drive_in_the_Franklin_Glen_section_of_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_Virginia.jpg
  6. (c) Famartin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020-10-22_12_16_02_A_Sassafras_in_autumn_along_Oak_Ivy_Lane_in_the_Franklin_Glen_section_of_Chantilly,_Fairfax_County,_Virginia.jpg
  7. Adapted by Murfreesboro,TN, Natural Resource Division from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassafras_albidum
  8. (c) Murfreesboro,TN, Natural Resource Division, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

iNat Map

Form Tree
Light Full sun, Part sun
Soil moisture Dry, Medium
Site Glade, Savanna, Woodland
Bloom period April, May
Bloom color Brown, Green, Yellow
Fruit/seeds/etc. Fleshy
Wildlife supported Birds - songbirds, Insects - larval host, Insects - pollinators
Family Laurels
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