Lauraceae - Laurel Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 57
Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
Spring
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| Spring Sassafras Flowers, Asheville, NC |
In spring when the Sassafras flowers are blooming; their yellow-green color lights up the mountain side. This Sassafras tree lives on the mountain beside my house near Asheville, North Carolina.
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Sassafras flowers - Asheville, NC
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The spring sassafras tree will have green twigs that smell fruity or spicy when scratched.
The tree grows to 60 feet tall and will grow up to a diameter of 1.5 feet.
Summer
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| One of the Sassafras trees that live on the Mountain at Priddy Woods. |
The Sassafras Tree in this photo is covered in the late Summer's day sun. You can make a delicious sassafras tea from the roots of the saplings. Gently pull the sapling from the ground and wash the root. Boil the root for about 20 minutes, take out the root to use another few times. Then, enjoy the tea. You can also make root beer by adding a little honey and chill. I took a class in the Great Smoky Mountains with Ila Hatter. The class was on wildcrafing; she made Sassafras tea for us. I enjoyed the tea so very much.
You can read more about Ila at
http://wildcrafting.com/
Fall
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| The Sassafras Tree in October |
This colorful Sassafras lives at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville. I walked in the gardens today, and enjoyed the fall tree colors all around me against a beautiful blue sky.
Becky - October 2010
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The Fall Sassafras tree
The beautiful Fall Sassafras tree is colored in orange and yellow.
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| Fall Sassafras albidum |
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Winter
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Sassafras in late winter
Photo by Robert Priddy |
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| The Sassafras Tree |
The Sassafras tree always brings a smile to my face. If you wonder what I am talking about; go find a sassafras tree and see for yourself.
The Spicebush caterpillars main host plant is the Sassafras tree and this little caterpillar always appears to be smiling.
Thank you to Jerry Butler at the Univ. of Florida for the spicebush caterpillar photo. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/spicebush04.htm
For the love of the trees,
Becky
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