Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
Courtesy Marilyn Kircus, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Summary
Sassafras is a lovely native tree that boasts exceptional features in all seasons. Small yellow flowers bloom in early spring. Its aromatic, mitten-shaped leaves are bright green in summer and yellow, orange and brilliant red in fall. Dark blue berries (drupes) on female trees hang from bright red stems in autumn, and in winter, the tree offers green twigs, red-brown furrowed bark, plump flower buds and unique branch architecture. Sassafras will adapt to most soils if well-drained, and prefers sun to part shade.
This versatile species makes a good shade tree when kept pruned, or it can be allowed to sucker to form a hedgerow or thicket.
More Details
FAMILY
Lauraceae (Laurel)
BLOOM TIME
April-May
FLOWER
yellow-green, fragrant, opening before or with the leaves
MATURE SIZE
To 60 feet with a rounded crown
LIGHT REQUIREMENT
Sun, part shade, shade
SOIL CONDITIONS
Moist
NATIVE STATUS
PA Native
Ecosystem Connections
Insect pollinated
The flowers of sassafras are insect-pollinated, and it is a larval host plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly and the promethea moth. The fruits are readily eaten by wildlife. Songbirds, game birds and woodpeckers all eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. Black bears, beaver, rabbits and squirrels eat the fruit, bark and wood, and white-tailed deer browse twigs and foliage.
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