Tree · Lauraceae
Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
Give this easygoing native room to spread and it rewards you with blazing fall color and playful mitten-shaped leaves.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–9
30–60 ft · 9.1–18.3 m
Overview
If you are new to trees, sassafras is a kind one to start with. The same branch will surprise you with three different leaf shapes, from a simple oval to a two-lobed mitten to a three-lobed glove, so no two twigs look quite alike. Come autumn the whole canopy warms into orange, red, and deep purple, and a gently crushed leaf gives back the sweet, spicy smell that made this tree a kitchen and root-beer favorite long ago.
It grows quickly and asks for little. Full sun to partial shade and moist, acidic, well-drained ground are all it really wants, and it stands up to cold all the way down to zone 4. One thing to expect is company. The shallow roots send up new shoots that can knit into a thicket, which is a gift along a wild edge and an easy fix in a lawn if you simply mow or clip them as they appear.
There is one honest caution, and it is easy to live with. The roots and bark hold safrole, the very compound behind that lovely scent, and it is a liver toxin the FDA took out of food back in 1960. So enjoy sassafras for its color, its shade, and the birds it feeds, and leave the old root teas in the past.
Care
The short version: give sassafras full sun to part shade, moist and acidic well-drained soil, and a steady drink while it is young, then let its roots wander and trim the suckers whenever you want to keep one clean trunk.
Light
Sassafras is happiest in full sun, and that open light is what makes the autumn color glow. It will settle for partial sun or partial shade without complaint, though a young tree may lean toward the brightest patch, so give it clear sky where you can.
Water
While your tree is young, aim to keep the soil evenly moist, offering a drink every 7 to 14 days as its roots take hold. Once it is established it copes with dry spells gracefully. It loves moist, well-drained ground and only sulks when left in soggy clay.
Soil
Plant it in moist, acidic, well-drained loam or sandy soil sitting around a pH of 6.0 to 7.0, and it will feel at home. It forgives clay and dry spots too. The one thing it dislikes is alkaline ground, which can turn the leaves pale and chlorotic.
Temperature
This is a wonderfully tough tree. It shrugs off winter lows near -29°F (-34°C) and summer highs around 100°F (38°C), which covers almost all of the temperate eastern US, so you can plant it without worrying over the thermometer.
Humidity
There is nothing to fuss over here, since everyday outdoor air suits sassafras just fine. What truly helps is good airflow, which keeps the small leaf fungi from settling in, so a spot with a little breeze is a gentle bonus.
Feeding
Good news for a busy gardener: an established sassafras hardly ever needs feeding. If your soil is poor, a balanced slow-release tree fertilizer in spring is all it takes, and a tree in decent ground can happily go without.
Pruning
Reach for the pruners in late winter to clear away dead or crossing branches and to snip off root suckers if you would like a single clean trunk. If you prefer a shrubby shape, you can cut the whole tree to the ground every 2 to 3 years and let it start again.
Repotting
Sassafras belongs in the open ground rather than a container. Its deep taproot makes pot life and the moving of an established tree genuinely hard, so take your time choosing the right spot and then let it stay put and grow.
Size & spacing
Plan for a good bit of space, and the tree will thank you. A mature sassafras stands 30 to 60 feet (9 to 18 m) tall and reaches 25 to 40 feet (7.6 to 12 m) across, and remember its suckers will widen that footprint over time.
When to plant
Sassafras keeps time with the woods it comes from, and it makes the year easy to follow. Set young plants out in spring once frost has let go, enjoy the soft greenish-yellow flowers from March to May as the leaves open, then watch for bluish-black drupes on red stalks in late summer to early fall.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Not typical; seed needs cold-moist stratification, so sow outdoors in fall or stratify 2-4 months before spring sowing
- Plant: Spring, after the last frost, using young container or root-sucker plants
- Harvest: Greenish-yellow flowers March to May before or with leaf-out; bluish-black drupes on red stalks ripen late summer to early fall
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Sassafras rarely throws a hard problem your way. Most of what you will meet is the tree reaching out with new shoots or a few insects nibbling the leaves, and both are simple to handle. The one serious worry, laurel wilt, only affects the southeast, so match your symptom below and step in early with confidence.
Whole limbs wilting quickly with dark stains inside the wood
This one is serious: laurel wilt, a fungus spread by the redbay ambrosia beetle that plugs the sapwood and can take a tree down once it settles in. Look for tiny beetle holes and little toothpick-like tubes of frass on the trunk, along with dark staining beneath the bark, and have a diagnostic lab confirm it if you garden in the southeastern range. Sadly there is no cure, so the caring move for other trees is to remove and chip or burn the affected one and never carry untreated wood that might move the beetle along.
Fix:
- No effective cure once infected; remove and properly dispose of (chip or burn) dead and dying trees to reduce beetle breeding sites
- Do not move untreated wood that could spread the beetle
Fresh shoots crowding up from the soil around your tree
What you are seeing is root suckering, the tree's natural and rather enthusiastic way of cloning itself outward. Nicking or cutting the shallow side roots only wakes up more shoots, so try not to dig around them. Through the season, mow or clip the suckers low, lift the ones you can with a piece of root attached, and set a buried barrier or a mowed strip to gently keep the colony where you want it.
Fix:
- Mow or cut suckers to the ground repeatedly through the season
- Dig out unwanted suckers with attached root where practical
- Install a root barrier or maintain a mowed strip to contain the colony
Nibbled or lacy leaves marked with spots and blotches
Chewed foliage usually means Japanese beetles and other feeders such as scale, while the spots trace back to leaf spot fungi or powdery mildew. On a grown tree this is almost always just cosmetic, so please do not lose sleep over it. Knock the beetles into soapy water, rake up fallen leaves to lower the fungal spores, and only bring out horticultural oil if scale ever gets heavy.
Fix:
- Hand-pick or knock Japanese beetles into soapy water
- Tolerate minor leaf spot; rake and remove fallen leaves to reduce fungal inoculum
- Treat heavy scale infestations with horticultural oil
Toxicity
The kind thing to remember is short: the roots, bark, and oil are not for eating. They carry safrole, a compound that harms the liver and is treated as a likely carcinogen, and it has been off the food list since 1960. Brushing the leaves is low-risk, so the simple habit is to keep people and pets from chewing the woody parts or sipping homemade teas.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Caution
The aromatic roots and bark carry safrole, which is hard on a cat's liver, so the real risk is a cat gnawing or licking those woody parts rather than passing by the leaves. Tuck cut roots, bark, and any sassafras oil somewhere a curious cat cannot reach.
Dogs Caution
A dog that chews bark, digs at the roots, or laps up sassafras oil takes in safrole, which wears on the liver over time. The leaves are low-risk, but the woody bits are not, so keep fallen branches and stored roots out of paw's reach.
Horses Caution
When a horse browses the bark or roots, it meets the same liver-toxic safrole the rest of the tree holds. Fence horses away from any trunk they can reach, and clear off prunings that drop into the paddock.
Rabbits Caution
A little rabbit needs only a little dose, so it is best if they nibble neither the bark nor the roots where safrole gathers. Keep them well clear of the trunk and of any trimmings.
Livestock Caution
Cattle, goats, and sheep that strip bark or chew at exposed roots swallow safrole, which taxes the liver. Keep a watchful eye on grazing animals near the tree and drag any felled wood out of the pasture.
Birds Caution
Wild birds happily eat the ripe bluish-black drupes with no trouble at all, because the safrole lives in the woody roots and bark rather than the fruit. Still, keep caged or backyard birds from pecking at loose bark or root pieces.
People Caution
Old teas and file powder came from this very tree, yet safrole is a liver toxin and a likely carcinogen that the FDA banned from food in 1960. Homemade root or bark teas and sassafras oil are not safe in any amount, so leave them alone and keep children from chewing the bark.
Foliage contact is low-risk, but do not let people or pets chew or ingest roots, bark, or sassafras oil. Avoid homemade root/bark teas and oil.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
You will not face a hard choice here, which is a relief. Sassafras is almost always grown as the wild native species, so there is really just the one lovely form to plant.
Sassafras albidum (species)
This is the everyday native form, prized for its three leaf shapes and its glowing orange-red-purple autumn color, and you will find almost no named cultivars out there to hunt down.
How to propagate
Making more sassafras is friendlier than it sounds, because the tree does much of the work through its own roots and suckers. A patient gardener can also raise it from stratified seed, so there is a path that fits how much fuss you feel like.
SeedModerate
Sow outdoors in fall, or cold-moist stratify 2-4 months and sow in spring · Several months to germinate; 1-2 seasons to establish
Sassafras seed stays fast asleep until it has felt a cold, damp stretch, so either sow it outdoors in fall or give it 2 to 4 months of cold-moist stratifying before a spring sowing. Rinse the fleshy pulp off the fruit first to help things along. Be patient, since it can take several months to sprout and a season or two before the young tree feels truly at home.
Stem cuttingsDemanding
Dig dormant root pieces or detach rooted suckers in late winter to early spring · One growing season
The gentlest path is to lift the rooted suckers the tree sends up or dig a few dormant root pieces, doing this in late winter to early spring while everything is resting. Given a single growing season these usually settle in nicely. Trying to move a bigger plant seldom works, all because of that deep taproot.
LayeringModerate
Spring · One to two seasons
Sassafras quietly layers itself through its wandering root suckers, so in spring you can simply sever a little one and shift it to a new home. Give it one to two seasons to root down and stand on its own, and it will.
Myths
Sassafras root and its root-beer flavor make a safe, natural pick-me-up.
The molecule behind that signature scent, safrole, is a hepatotoxin and a likely human carcinogen. It brought on liver tumors in lab animals, which is why the FDA pulled safrole and sassafras oil from food back in 1960. Being natural does not make the old root tonics safe to sip, so it is kindest to yourself to skip them.