Sassafras - bark
sassafras bark is thick, reddish-brown and deeply furrowed
Sassafras - twig
sassafras twigs are slender, green, alternating, and aromatic
Sassafras - female flower cluster
female flower cluster opens before leaves emerge
Sassafras - male flower cluster
male flower cluster opens before leaves emerge
Sassafras - leaves
the sassafras has three different leaf shapes: entire, mitten, and trident
Sassafras - fall color
fall color on the sassafras ranges from yellow to red

Plant Characteristics:

  • Tree: small tree, up to 40 ft, with an irregular, twisted trunk and main branches; usually flat topped crown; often forming thickets
  • Bark: rough, furrowed, and ridged, reddish-brown with cinnamon-brown inner bark
  • Twigs: slender and green, with a spicy-sweet aroma when broken
  • Buds: ¼ in long and green
  • Leaves: alternate; simple; three leaf types on the same tree – unlobed, 2-lobed or 3-lobed; green above and below, fragrant when crushed
  • Fall Foliage: yellow, orange, or crimson
  • Flowers: emerge before leaves in spring, species has separate male and female trees; flowers are small but showy, bright yellow-green, borne on 2 in stalks; flowers droop when the leaves appear
  • Fruit type: dark, shiny blue, ovoid, drupe, 1/3 in, in a red cup on a red stalk; maturing in late summer; on female trees only

Additional Details:

  • Sassafras bark is believed to have been the first forest product exported from the New World.
  • It was used as a cure-all by Native Americans and Colonists.
  • The dried leaves are ground into filé powder, a popular ingredient in Creole cooking.
  • Bark from the roots yields sassafras oil used for soap, perfume, tea and root beer.
  • Sassafras roots were the original flavoring for root beer, but were replaced by artificial flavoring in 1960 when compounds in the roots were found to be carcinogenic.
  • The fruit are a favorite of many songbirds, and the foliage is browsed by deer and small mammals. 
  • As it readily forms thickets on disturbed sites, sassafras can be valuable as a soil stabilizer.
  • This tree is the larval host plant for Spicebush butterfly, Tiger swallow-tail, Palamedes butterflies, and Pale Swallowtail.

Part of the Laurel Family. Notable for having three different leaves – one shaped like mittens.

References:
Brown, R. and M. Brown. 1972. Woody Plants of Maryland. Port City Press, Baltimore, MD.
Foster, S. and J. Duke. 1990. A field guide to medicinal plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Grimm, W. C. and J. Kartesz. 2002. The Illustrated Book of Trees. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, PA.
Harris, J. and M. Woolf Harris. 1994. Plant Identification Terminology: An illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, UT.
Peterson, L. 1977. A field guide to edible wild plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Virginia Department of Forestry. 2022. Common Native Trees of Virginia – Tree Identification Guide.
The Wildflower Center Staff. 2023. Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The University of Texas at Austin.