Sassafras
Sassafras – Sassafras albidum Nees
Description of Plant
Leaf: 7.5 – 13 cm in length and 4-10 cm in
width. Leaves are in three different
shapes: elliptical, mitten shaped with two lobes, or with three broad blunt
lobes. The leaves are shiny green on top
and paler and often hairy underneath.
The leaves turn yellow, orange, or red in autumn.
Flower: The male and female flowers are usually found
on separate trees. The flowers are a
yellow green and are found clustered at the end of the leafless twigs in the
early spring.
Fruit: Dark berries in a red cup on a long red stalk;
each berry contains a shiny brown seed.
Twig: Greenish brown, slender, and sometimes hairy.
Bark: Brownish-gray with thick furrows.
Form: This is a tree with a spreading crown of
short, stout branches that grows from 30-60 feet in height. The tree is very aromatic with leaves in
different shapes.
Discussion of Plant
The roots and bark
of this tree have been used to flavor root beer. The oil from the roots and bark are also used
to perfume soap and to make sassafras tea.
The colonists thought that the Sassafras tree had special medicinal
properties and shipped large quantities of these trees back to
Copyright
© Sue Grabowski,
Gail Slowinski, Carl Schurz High School 2003
References
Coombes, Allen, J,
Smithsonian Handbook of Trees, Dorling Kindersley,
Little, Elbert,
L., Field Guide to Trees, Alfred A.
Symonds, George,
W.D., The Tree Identification Book, Quill Publishing,