Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

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Sassafras

Habit (mature) · Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

A native medium tree of eastern North American forest edges and old-fields with three distinctive leaf shapes on the same plant (unlobed oval, mitten-shaped, and three-lobed) and brilliant red-orange-yellow fall color. Dioecious — only female trees produce the blue drupes in scarlet cups that feed migrating songbirds. Secondary larval host for spicebush swallowtail (after spicebush itself) and palamedes swallowtail. Aromatic roots historically the source of sassafras tea and root beer flavoring — restricted in commercial food use since the 1970s due to safrole, a weak carcinogen.

Native: 34 US states + 1 CA province

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: broad (83/100)

Structure

Focal point

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

360-720" tall · 300" apart

Hardy in zones

4a-9b

very cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Cool-Hot

cool to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

Yes

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Acid-soil care

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Wildlife protection

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A documented larval host for the Spicebush swallowtail and 1 other species — specialist wildlife that depend on plants like this to reproduce.

Wildlife relationships

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Chilean Matorral

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Pollination

Dioecious — needs male pollinizer

Dioecious — separate male and female trees. Only female trees produce the blue drupes in scarlet cups that feed migrating songbirds. Plant gender is not visible until flowering begins at year 5-7. Nurseries rarely label plant gender; planting 3-5 trees of unknown gender increases the odds of having both sexes for fruit production.

Compatible pollinizers

A second Sassafras albidum of the opposite sex within ~100 feet; multiple males per female improves fruit set.

Within

100 feet of a partner

Bloom timing

Partner bloom-time matching: required

Plants don't grow alone

Larval host

Specialist

Butterfly

Spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

NC State documents sassafras as a larval host for the spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus, Lauraceae specialist); spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is the canonical primary host and sassafras is the secondary host. Both Lauraceae species together are the realistic conservation strategy for spicebush swallowtail populations.

Larval host

Moth

Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis)

NC State documents sassafras among the imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) larval hosts alongside maples, oaks, and pines.

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern songbirds (multi-species) (multiple species (Passeriformes))

NC State explicitly names eastern bluebirds, red-eyed vireos, quail, and wild turkeys among the songbirds consuming the blue drupes. The drupes ripen in late summer to feed migrating songbirds at a critical pre-migration nutrition point.

For people

Toxic — do not consume

NC State Extension tags sassafras as Poisonous. Roots contain safrole (5-methylenedioxy-1-allylbenzene), shown to be a weak carcinogen in experimental animals; the FDA restricted safrole-containing food and beverage products in the 1970s. Historic use included sassafras root tea, root beer flavoring (now reformulated with safrole-free extracts or artificial substitutes), and filé powder (dried ground young leaves used in Louisiana Creole gumbo; the leaves have minimal safrole compared to the roots). Modern consumption should be limited to commercially-prepared safrole-free products. Severity is "low" per NC State; no contact dermatitis is documented.