How to Pick Out a Sassafras Tree in the Winter

Root beer is flavored with sassafras.

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a native tree in the East and South, extending as far west as Texas. The roots are used to make root beer and sassafras tea, according to the University of Florida. Sassafras wood is harvested to make buckets and barrels and for interior cabinetry. Many parts of sassafras are aromatic, helping with winter identification of the tree.

Things You'll Need

• Pocketknife

Instructions

Bark

1. Examine the bark on the tree trunk. Sassafras bark is reddish-brown or weathered gray with deep, vertical furrows.

2. Slice a thin layer off the surface of the bark, using your pocketknife.

3. Examine the exposed inner bark. It should be pale orange or cinnamon-colored.

4. Smell the newly exposed sassafras bark. It should have a spicy scent, reminiscent of citrus or root beer.

Twigs

1. Examine a twig from the end of a branch. Young sassafras twigs are green.

2. Rub the end of the twig with your fingertips. It should be velvety to the touch.

3. Break the twig and smell it. Sassafras twigs are brittle and have the same citrus-spicy scent as the bark.

4. Chew one of the broken ends. It will taste like root beer.

5. Look at the bud on the end of the twig. Sassafras has fat, rounded buds, a quarter inch long. The buds are green, sometimes with a red tip.

Leaves and Fruit

1. Search the tree for any leaves that haven't yet fallen. Sassafras leaves have a unique mitten shape, although some leaves will have two "thumbs" and some won't have any. Leaf stems are reddish.

2. Look at the leaf coloring. If it's early enough in the winter, the leaves remaining on the tree or the ground underneath will still exhibit fall color, normally yellowish-orange, but occasionally dark red.

3. Rub any leaves you find with your fingertips. They may be also be fuzzy, like the stem ends.

4. Crush a leaf and smell it. Sassafras leaves smell like citrus when crushed.

5. Look for any fruit remaining on the tree. Sassafras fruit is small and dark blue, held in a bright red cup attached to a red stalk.

Tips & Warnings

• Beware of any vines clinging to the bark of the tree you're examining. Poison ivy grows under the same conditions as sassafras. The vines are just as irritating to the skin as the summer leaves.

References

• Virginia Tech: Sassafras
• University of Florida: Sassafras
• University of Tennessee: Identifying Common Tennessee Trees, page 59
• "Manual of Wood Landscape Plants"; Michael A. Dirr; 1990