Editing Sassafras (section)

== Description ==
Sassafras trees grow from {{convert|9|–|35|m|ft|abbr=off}} tall with many slender [[sympodial]] branches and smooth, orange-brown bark or yellow bark.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dirr |first=Michael |title=Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses |page=938 |year=2009 |publisher=Stipes Publishing |edition=6th |isbn=9781588748706}}</ref> All parts of the plants are fragrant. The species are unusual in having three distinct [[leaf]] patterns on the same plant: unlobed oval, bilobed (mitten-shaped), and trilobed (three-pronged); the leaves are hardly ever five-lobed.<ref name=noble>Noble Plant Image Gallery [https://nobleapps.noble.org/plantimagegallery/Plant.aspx?PlantID=97&IndexType=CommonName&PlantMainName=Sassafras&PlantTypeID=3 Sassafras (includes photo of five-lobed leaf)]</ref> Three-lobed leaves are more common in ''[[Sassafras tzumu]]'' and ''[[Sassafras randaiense|S.&nbsp;randaiense]]'' than in their North American counterparts, although three-lobed leaves often occur on ''[[Sassafras albidum|S.&nbsp;albidum]]''. The young leaves and twigs are quite [[mucilaginous]] and produce a citrus-like scent when crushed. The tiny, yellow [[flower]]s are generally six-petaled; ''S.&nbsp;albidum'' and (the extinct) ''[[Sassafras hesperia|S.&nbsp;hesperia]]'' are [[dioecious]], with male and female flowers on separate trees, while ''S.&nbsp;tzumu'' and ''S.&nbsp;randaiense'' have male and female flowers occurring on the same trees. The [[fruit]] is a [[drupe]], blue-black when ripe.<ref name="fna" />

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">
File:Sassafras albidum, Sassafras pistillate flowers, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman 2017-07-25-20.11 (38413696475).jpg|Pistillate (female) flowers
File:Sassafras albidum, Sassafras staminate flowers, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman 2017-07-25-20.19 (24427586417).jpg|Staminate (male) flowers
</gallery>

The largest known sassafras tree in the world is in [[Owensboro, Kentucky]], and is over {{convert|100|ft|abbr=on|order=flip}} high and {{convert|21|ft|abbr=on|order=flip}} in circumference.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/kytreewebsite/pdffiles/SASSAFRAprint.pdf |publisher=Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |title=''Sassafras albidum'' |access-date=2009-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012121707/http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/kytreewebsite/pdffiles/SASSAFRAprint.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-12 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=The biggest sassafras |magazine=American Forests |date=May–June 1994 |first=Whit |last=Bronaugh |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1016/is_n5-6_v100/ai_15473433/ |access-date=2009-06-15 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709222043/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1016/is_n5-6_v100/ai_15473433/ |archive-date=2012-07-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>