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| Bloom Color | yellow |
|---|---|
| Bloom Period | Early-March to Late-April |
| Category, USDA | Dicot |
| Comment | Thickets, woods, pine plantation |
| Present in Plant Communities |
Gardens, meadows or lawns (G2,G3) Pine plantation (F5) Slope forest (C4,C5,C6,C7) Thicket or young forest (B12,D1,D4,E1,E2,E4,E6) Upland forest (B4,B9) |
| Educational Notes | Sassafrass roots were used to flavor root beer; leaves make filet powder used in gumbo; wood used for lentils for doors and windows, dugout canoes, and fencing because of its resistance to fungus; fruits after ten years; food source for bluebirds, thrushes, and mockingbirds, as well as wild game birds; winter twigs brosed by deer; leaves are host for the spicebush and palamedes butterfly |
| Family | Lauraceae |
| Fibers Dyes, Ethnobotany | Furniture |
| Foliage Color | red |
| Foods, Ethnobotany | Beverages, spices |
| Fruit Color Mature | purple/black |
| Growth Rate | medium to fast |
| Habit | Tree, Shrub |
| Habitat | old fields, hedgerows, and woods edges. |
| Habitat | Thickets, young woods |
| Hardiness Zone | 4a |
| Height | 60.0 |
| Medicine, Ethnobotany | Fevers, burns, eye medicine |
| MPA Species IDs | 1366 |
| North American Federations, Ethnobotany | Cherokee, Chippewa, Delaware |
| Native | Yes |
| Other , Ethnobotany | Fertilizer w/ beans, soap |
| Plant Culture | Pefers loamy, acidic, well-drained soils. Great for naturalizing; spreads by suckers. |
| Present in Plant Surveys | Ogle, partial survey 1992 Ebert - Holt, 1998 - 1999 Brighton-Longbottom, 2018 |
| Predominant Habit | Tree |
| Range | ME to MI south to FL, TX |
| Seed Type | drupe |
| Soil Moisture | Moist soil |
| Species ID Ghini | 11804 |
| Spread | 40.0 |
| Status, Ethnobotany | Complete |
| Sun Exposure | Sun-shade |
| Synonym Scientific Names | Laurus albidus, Laurus sassafras, Sassafras albidum var. molle, Sassafras officinale, Sassafras sassafras, Sassafras variifolium |
| USDA Synonym Symbols | LAAL5, LASA6, SAALM2, SAOF5, SASA17, SAVA7 |
| Use | An attractive deciduous tree with a slender pyramidal shape, tiered branches and striking orange-brown |
| Wildlife Value | ;Food; |
| Mapped Plant Accessions | 2005.0053.316 2005.0053.317 2005.0053.318 2005.0053.321 2005.0053.70 2005.0053.79 2005.0065.315 2013.0043.1903 2013.0043.1926 2018.0024.2028 2018.0036.1 2018.0049.1 |
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