Fifty Common Trees of New York 47 



37. SASSAFRAS 



(Sassafras variifolium (Salisbury) Kuntze) 



Sassafras is a small to, medium-sized tree, best known, perhaps, for its 

 bark and root which have long been used for making sassafras tea. It 

 is rare or absent in the higher Adirondacks and Catskills but is locally 



SASSAFRAS 



Twig, one-half natural size ; leaf, one-third 

 natural size ; fruit, one-third natural size 



common on the sandy soil between these mountain ranges, and is abun- 

 dant on the hills along the lower Hudson River Valley and on Long 

 Island. Its wood is soft, weak, brittle, coarse-grained, aromatic, and 

 very durable in contact with the soil. It is used locally for fence posts. 



Bark — reddish brown in color, deeply furrowed even in young trees, 

 with flat-topped ridges crossed by horizontal cracks ; inner layers bright 

 cinnamon red in color. 



Twigs — slender, brittle, spicy to smell, at first light yellowish green in 

 color, later becoming reddish brown in color. 



Winter buds — terminal bud present, from % to % inch long, pointed, 

 greenish ; lateral buds much smaller. 



Leaves — alternate, simple, from 4 to 6 inches long, entire margined. 

 The leaves present a great variation in shape on the same tree, some are 

 egg-shaped, others mitten-shaped (both left and right handed), still 

 others are 3-lobed, more rarely 5-lobed. 



Fruit — berry -like, small, dark blue in color, containing a stony seed *4 

 inch long, on a stout red stem, usually in clusters; ripens early in au- 

 tumn. 



