Sassafras Albidum Tree Shrub and Vine Identification Fact Sheet

This is the tree, shrub, and vine identification project fact sheet for Sassafras albidum. This fact sheet may not be copied in part or in whole and submitted as one's own project, but may be cited as a source of facts during one's own research. See tree, shrub, and vine identification project main page for links to other plants, and Native Trees and Shrubs slideshow for pictures.

Plant Botanical Name: Sassafras albidum

Common Name: Sassafras

Family Name: Lauraceae

Plant is Native to What Country: Eastern US and southeastern Canada

Plant Height at Maturity: 40-75 feet high and 40 feet wide.

Plant Habit and Form: Can be a large shrub and suckers at the roots, forming thickets. Also becomes a small to medium tree. Deciduous, with pyramidal to shrubby shape in youth. Becomes rounded or irregular in shape at maturity.

Foliage: Leaves alternate, can be round or mitten-shaped, having one or two "thumbs." Leaves are 3-7 inches long by 2-4 inches wide, medium green in summer and turning red, orange, or yellow in fall. Has good fall color.

Bark: Bark on twigs is green and smooth, becoming reddish brown and deeply furrowed on older trees. Bark is ornamentally attractive.

Flower: Plants are dioecious. Flowers are yellow, in clusters 2″ long blooming in May. Individual flowers are between a third and a half inch in size. Flowers ornamentally insignificant.

Fruit/Seed: Fruit a drupe, blue to black, 0.5 inches in diameter on female plants. Fruit is quickly consumed by birds or fall, red pedicels remain.

Growing Requirements: Prefers moist, well drained sandy loams with a pH of 6-7, in open woodlands. Trees do not tolerate poor drainage. Trees are hardy to zone 5. Remove basal suckers for a single trunk.

Problems and Drawbacks: Trees hard to establish and not often available commercially. Trees sucker endlessly from the base.

Special Uses: Sassafras is valued in the landscape for its bark, branching, and fall color. Can be used as a shade tree. Sassafras was used for flavoring but is a possible carcinogen.

ID Tips/Remarks: Mitten shaped leaves.

Bibliography: http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/s/sasalb/sasalb1.html, http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/charProfile?symbol=SAAL5, http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/sasalb/all.html