A deciduous tree, occasionally 70 to 90 ft in the wild; young shoots glabrous or (in var. molle) downy. Leaves alternate, of variable shape, mostly oval, ovate or obovate, often with a conspicuous lobe on one or both sides, the sinus always rounded; they are 3 to 7 in. long, 2 to 4 in. wide, tapered at the base, prominently three-veined, glossy dark green above, pale and somewhat glaucous beneath, glabrous or almost so in the typical state, but downy on both sides when young and more or less permanently downy beneath in var. molle; stalk 1⁄2 to 11⁄2 in. long. Flowers greenish yellow, produced in May in racemes 1 to 2 in. long, the sexes usually on separate trees. Corolla absent. Calyx about 3⁄8 in. long and wide, with six narrowly oblong lobes. Stamens nine in the male, perfect; six, and aborted, in the female. Fruits dark blue, roundish oval, about 3⁄8 in. long.
This species (including the var. molle, see below) is a native of the eastern and central United States, extending as far west as Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and from New England to Florida; also of Canada (Ontario).
var. molle (Raf.) Fern. Sassafras triloba var. mollis Raf.; Laurus sassafras L.; S. officinale Nees & Ebermaier. – This variety, with the young branchlets and leaf-undersides downy, occurs almost throughout the range of the species, while the more glabrous, typical state is confined to the northern part of the area; but intermediates occur.
The sassafras is pleasingly aromatic, and many medicinal virtues were once imputed to it. Although it has no great beauty of flower, it is a striking and handsome tree in foliage, and is of ornamental value even when it remains shrubby, as it often does in this country. Although it has been in cultivation in Britain since the 1630s there are very few good specimens in the country. The best was at Claremont, near Esher, which was about 50 ft high in 1910, the trunk 71⁄4 ft in girth at 1 ft from the ground – a fine pyramidal specimen. No comparable tree has been recorded recently; one at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, is about 60 ft high but only 31⁄4 ft in girth (1974).
S. albidum is a perfectly hardy species except when quite young, though the unfolding leaves are sometimes crippled by late frost. It is usually raised from imported seed, but root-cuttings are another means of increase, and suckers are sometimes produced, which can be detached and established in pots. It needs a deep fertile soil.
S. tzumu (Hemsl.) Hemsl. – This is the only other species in cultivation. It is a Chinese tree, introduced from Hupeh to the Coombe Wood nursery by Wilson in 1900; a tree which grew at Kew was the only one known to me. As compared with the American species, it has certain small differences in the structure of the flower, the shoots and leaves are glabrous, and it is remarkably distinct in growth. The original tree at Coombe Wood made enormous, succulent, erect growths every year, perhaps 6 or 7 ft long, with proportionately large leaves. These shoots were very much cut back in winter, but a woody trunk was gradually being formed, and a tree with age might become quite acclimatised. Leaves with the principal veins reddish; young wood purple-spotted. The specific name is founded on the native one (“tzu-mu”). According to Henry, who discovered it, the tree grows 50 ft high, and its timber is valued by the mountaineers where it is wild.