Sassafras

:This page is about the Sassafras tree. Sassafras, Victoria is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Related Topics:
Sassafras, Victoria - Melbourne - Victoria - Australia

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Sassafras albidum

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Sassafras randaiense

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Sassafras tzumu

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Sassafras is a genus of three species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.

Related Topics:
Deciduous - Tree - Lauraceae - North America - Asia

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Sassafras trees grow from 15-35 m tall and 70-150 cm diameter, with many slender branches, and smooth, orange-brown bark. The branching is sympodial. The bark of the mature trunk is thick, red-brown, and deeply furrowed. The wood is light, soft, weak, and brittle. All parts of the plants are very fragrant.

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The species are unusual in having three distinct leaf patterns on the same plant; unlobed oval, bilobed (mitten-shaped), and trilobed (three pronged). They have smooth margins and grow 7-20 cm long by 5-10 cm broad. The young leaves and twigs are quite mucilaginous. The tiny, yellow flowers are five-petaled and bloom in the spring; they are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees. The fruit are blue-black, egg-shaped, 1 cm long, produced on long, red-stalked cups, and mature in late summer.

Related Topics:
Leaf - Mucilaginous - Flower - Dioecious - Fruit

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The name "Sassafras", applied by the Spanish botanist Monardes in the sixteenth century, is said to be a corruption of the Spanish word for saxifrage.

Related Topics:
Spanish - Saxifrage

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