WHITE SASSAFRAS
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| File Size: 72 KB |
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Sassafras albidum (Nutt. ) Nees
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| Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
| Height: Shrubs to trees, to 26+ feet |
| Family: Lauraceae - Laurel Family |
| Flowering Period: March, April |
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| Trunks: | | Erect; bark gray to reddish brown, furrows deep, ridges long, flat-topped; wood brownish orange, soft. | | Twigs: | | Pale green with olive mottling, flexible, glabrous or pubescent; leaf scars crescent-shaped to more or less half-round; buds olive-green, ovoid, .04 to .3 inch, apex obtuse to acute, scales glabrous or pubescent. | | Leaves: | | Deciduous, alternate, simple; petiole .4 to 1.2 inch, pubescent; blade elliptic-ovate to obovate, 1,2 to 6 inches long, .3 to 3.6 inches wide, base tapered to cuneate, margins entire to 2-3-lobed, apex obtuse to acute, lower surface light green to yellowish green, glaucous, pubescent, especially along veins, upper surface green to dark green, sparsely pubescent, especially along midvein. | | Flowers: | | Axillary from wood of previous year, racemes or racemose panicles, 4-10-flowered; floral bract 1; peduncle .4 to .8 inch; pedicels .2 to .3 inch, becoming red in fruit, club-shaped, fleshy.Unisexual, radially symmetric, fragrant; tepals 6, greenish yellow, connate basally, narrowly elliptic, .12 to .18 inch; staminate: stamens 9; pistillate: staminodes 6; pistil 1; style 1, .08 to .12 inch; stigma 1. | | Fruit: | | September-October; drupes, bluish black, ovoid to obovoid, .28 to .43 inch long, .2 to .28 inch wide, glabrous, fleshy; stone 1, dark brown, ovoid to ellipsoid, granulate, 2-ridged. | | Habitat: | | Woodlands, edges of forests, old fields, pastures, fencerows, roadsides, often in rocky soil. | | Distribution: | | Southeast corner of Kansas | | Origin: | | Native | | Uses: | | Sassafras albidum was an important medicinal, food, and fiber source for a number of Native American tribes in eastern North America. The dried and powdered leaves are used to make filé powder, a seasoning and thickening agent in Louisiana Creole cuisine. | | Comments: | | Sassafras albidum is dioecious and aromatic. |
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| White sassafras leaves |  | | 123 KB | | Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
| | White sassafras flowers |  | | 40 KB | | Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
| | White sassafras inflorescences |  | | 170 KB | | Photo by Craig Freeman |
| | White sassafras leaf |  | | 77 KB | | Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
| | White sassafras bark |  | | 178 KB | | Photo by Craig Freeman |
| | White sassafras fruit |  | | 125 KB | | Photo by Craig Freeman |
| | White sassafras buds |  | | 54 KB | | Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
| | White sassafras habit |  | | 205 KB | | Schermerhorn Park, Cherokee County, Kansas |
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