Sassafras tzumu (Hemsl.) Hemsl.

Species

Angiosperms > Laurales > Lauraceae > Sassafras

Characteristics

Deciduous trees, up to 35 m tall, 2-5 m d.b.h. Bark yellow-green when young but gray-brown when mature, smooth, irregularly and longitudinally fissured. Branchlets reddish initially but blackish when dry, robust, suberect, ± angled, glabrous. Terminal buds large, ellipsoid, up to 1.3 × 0.9 cm; bud scales suborbicular, densely yellow sericeous outside. Leaves alternate, clustered at apex of branchlet, unlobed or 2-or 3-lobed; petiole always reddish when fresh, slender, (1-)2-7 cm, plano-convex, glabrous or sparsely hirtellous; leaf blade gray-green abaxially, green and opaque or slightly shiny adaxially, ovate or obovate, 9-18 × 6-10 cm, papery, glabrous on both surfaces or sometimes sparsely hirtellous especially on venation abaxially, pinninerved or triplinerved, basal lateral veins opposite, very developed, other lateral veins 5-7 pairs, midrib, lateral veins, and veinlets slightly conspicuous on both surfaces, lateral veins and veinlets anastomosing in arcuate form toward leaf margin, base cuneate, apex acuminate (but apex of lateral leaf lobes slightly obtuse). Raceme terminal, appearing before leaves, 4-5 cm, many flowered, pedunculate; peduncle less than 1 cm; rachis densely brown villous, subtended by late deciduous alternate involucral bracts at base; bracts linear to filiform, 1-8 mm, lowest one longest. Pedicel slender, 4.5-6 mm, densely brown villous. Flowers yellow, ca. 4 mm. Perianth tube very short; perianth lobes 6, lanceolate, subequal, ca. 3.5 mm, sparsely pilose outside, glabrous inside, slightly obtuse at apex. Fertile stamens 9, in 3 series, subequal, ca. 3 mm; filaments complanate, pilose; anthers ovate-oblong, 4-celled. Staminodes 3, ca. 1.5 mm, triangular-subulate, stipitate. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; style ca. 1.2 mm; stigma discoid. Fruit subglobose, up to 8 mm in diam., blue-black and white waxy when mature, seated on red shallow perianth cup; stalk 1.5-2 cm, glabrous, gradually dilated at apex. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. May-Sep.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 30.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) 0.7
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Always growing in sparse or dense forests; at elevations from 100-1,900 metres.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 6-11

Usage

Uses essential oil material medicinal timber wood
Edible -
Therapeutic use Fattening (unspecified), Nausea (unspecified), Ophthalmia (unspecified), Pediculosis (unspecified), Skin (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Scabies (unspecified), Parasiticide (unspecified), Sore (unspecified), Vermifuge (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Sassafras tzumu unspecified picture

Distribution

Sassafras tzumu world distribution map, present in China and India

Conservation status

Sassafras tzumu threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:468639-1
WFO ID wfo-0001071815
COL ID 6Y2LL
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Litsea laxiflora Sassafras tzumu Pseudosassafras tzumu Pseudosassafras laxiflora Lindera tzumu Lindera camphorata