Georgia Wildlife Federation

Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Sassafras albidum

Sassafras is truly a native tree for all seasons. The lovely tiered branching structure is best admired in winter, when the bare trees stand like living sculptures in frosty old fields and on roadsides. Then, suddenly, in early spring, dainty yellow flowers appear, and the same trees are wrapped in mists of gold. The aromatic leaves, which come in several delightful shapes (including left-handed and right-handed mittens), are yellow-green in spring, blue-green in summer, and yellow, red, orange, and purple in fall. In late summer, female trees produce small, shiny, dark blue fruits on scarlet stalks.

The fruits are extremely popular with the birds. No sooner have they ripened than they are gobbled up by eastern kingbirds, great-crested flycatchers, gray catbirds, mockingbirds, American robins, brown thrashers, hermit thrushes, Swainson’s thrushes, gray-cheeked thrushes, veeries, eastern bluebirds, rufous-sided towhees, red-eyed and white-eyed vireos, sapsuckers, and pileated woodpeckers. The spring flowers are a favorite of honeybees.

Historically, humans too have relished the taste of sassafras. The oil extracted from sassafras root bark was a popular flavoring in food and root beer until the active ingredient (safrole) was linked to cancer in the 1960s. The dried, ground leaves are not harmful, however, and are still used to make the famous filė powder that gives gumbo and other Creole dishes their distinctive flavor.

Family: Lauraceae (Laurel Family)

Description: Medium-sized deciduous tree with bright green, aromatic leaves 3 to 7" long and 2 to 4" wide. Leaves come in 3 shapes—entire, 2-lobed (mitten-shaped), and 3-lobed. 1 to 2" yellow flowers appear in March or April before the leaves. 1/2" blue-black drupes ripen in late summer. Fall leaf color is yellow, orange, scarlet, and purple.

Size: 20 to 60’ high, 25 to 40’ wide.

Habit: Slender, pyramidal tree with horizontal branches in distinct tiered layers. Tends to sucker and form dense thickets.

Light: Full sun to light shade.

Planting and Care: Wild-growing trees are difficult to move, especially those that have developed from root suckers. For best results, transplant container-grown trees in early spring into moist, well drained, acid, sandy loam. Trees are drought tolerant once established.

Ornamental Value: Assets include small yellow flowers in spring, attractive blue-black fruits in late summer, fabulous fall color, and an elegant tiered branching structure.

Landscape Usage: Plant at the edge of a meadow or in a sunny naturalized area.

Wildlife Benefits: Larval host plant for spicebush swallowtails, flannel moths, and sassafras leaf rollers. Fruits are consumed by a wide variety of birds.

Native Habitat: Found across Georgia along fencerows, woodland edges, and old fields.