Sassafras

The Sassafras Albidum is commonly known as Ague Tree, Cinnamon Wood, Common Sassafras, Gumbo File, Mitten Tree, Saloop, Sassafras, Smelling Stick, as well as White Sassafras

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Growing Regions

Sassafras occurs from southwestern Maine west to extreme southern Ontario and central Michigan; southwest to Illinois, Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; and east to central Florida.  It is extinct in southeastern Wisconsin, but its range is extending into northern Illinois [41].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of sassafras is Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees. [41,61]. Some authorities consider red sassafras [S. a. var. molle (Raf.) Fern.] a distinct variety [8,30,82]; other authors consider it synonymous with the type variety [53,61,68].

The sassafras-persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) cover type is a
successional type common on abandoned farmlands throughout its range.
Sassafras is a common component of the bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia)
type, which is a scrub type on dry sites along the Coastal Plain [41].
In dry pine-oak forests, sassafras sprouts prolifically and is a
shrub-layer dominant [72].  It achieves short-term dominance by producing
extensive thickets where few other woody plants can establish [32].
In the northern parts of its range, sassafras occurs in the understory
of open stands of aspen (Populus spp.) and in northern pin oak (Q.
ellipsoidalis) stands [41].

Common tree associates of sassafras not previously mentioned include
sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida),
elms (Ulmus spp.), hickories (Carya spp.), and American beech (Fagus
grandifolia).  Minor associates include American hornbeam (Carpinus
caroliniana), eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), and pawpaw
(Asimina triloba).  On poor sites, particularly in the Appalachian
Mountains, sassafras is frequently associated with black locust (Robinia
pseudoacacia), and sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum).  In old fields with
deep soils, sassafras commonly grows with elms, ashes (Fraxinus spp.),
sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and
oaks [41].

Sassafras is listed as a subdominant on subxeric and submesic sites in
the following classification:  Landscape ecosystem classification for
South Carolina [51].

• More Sassafras Information

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