DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Sassafras albidum | Sassafras 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Sassafras occurs from southwestern Maine west to extreme southern
Ontario and central Michigan; southwest to Illinois, Missouri, eastern
Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; and east to central Florida.  It is extinct
in southeastern Wisconsin, but its range is extending into northern
Illinois [41].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES14  Oak - pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES16  Oak - gum - cypress
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch


STATES : 
     AL  AR  CT  DE  FL  GA  IL  IN  IA  KS
     KY  LA  ME  MD  MA  MI  MS  MO  NH  NJ
     NY  NC  OH  OK  PA  RI  SC  TN  TX  VT
     VA  WV


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ALPO  ANTI  ASIS  BISO  BITH  BUFF
     CACO  CAHA  CALO  CATO  CHCH  COSW
     CUGA  CUIS  CUVA  DEWA  FIIS  FOCA
     FODO  GATE  GWCA  GWMP  GRSM  HOBE
     HOSP  INDU  JOFL  MACA  MANA  MORR
     NATR  OBRI  OZAR  PRWI  RICH  SARA
     SHEN  SHIL  VAFO  WICR


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K083  Cedar glades
   K089  Black Belt
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K101  Elm - ash forest
   K104  Appalachian oak forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K110  Northeastern oak - pine forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K112  Southern mixed forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    20  White pine - northern red oak - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    40  Post oak - blackjack oak
    43  Bear oak
    44  Chestnut oak
    45  Pitch pine
    46  Eastern redcedar
    50  Black locust
    52  White oak - black oak - northern red oak
    53  White oak
    55  Northern red oak
    57  Yellow-poplar
    60  Beech - sugar maple
    61  River birch - sycamore
    64  Sassafras - persimmon
    70  Longleaf pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    75  Shortleaf pine
    76  Shortleaf pine - oak
    78  Virginia pine - oak
    79  Virginia pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    84  Slash pine
    85  Slash pine - hardwood
    88  Willow oak - water oak - diamondleaf oak
   108  Red maple
   110  Black oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
The sassafras-persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) cover type is a
successional type common on abandoned farmlands throughout its range.
Sassafras is a common component of the bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia)
type, which is a scrub type on dry sites along the Coastal Plain [41].
In dry pine-oak forests, sassafras sprouts prolifically and is a
shrub-layer dominant [72].  It achieves short-term dominance by producing
extensive thickets where few other woody plants can establish [32].
In the northern parts of its range, sassafras occurs in the understory
of open stands of aspen (Populus spp.) and in northern pin oak (Q.
ellipsoidalis) stands [41].

Common tree associates of sassafras not previously mentioned include
sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida),
elms (Ulmus spp.), hickories (Carya spp.), and American beech (Fagus
grandifolia).  Minor associates include American hornbeam (Carpinus
caroliniana), eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), and pawpaw
(Asimina triloba).  On poor sites, particularly in the Appalachian
Mountains, sassafras is frequently associated with black locust (Robinia
pseudoacacia), and sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum).  In old fields with
deep soils, sassafras commonly grows with elms, ashes (Fraxinus spp.),
sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and
oaks [41].

Sassafras is listed as a subdominant on subxeric and submesic sites in
the following classification:  Landscape ecosystem classification for
South Carolina [51].

Related categories for Species: Sassafras albidum | Sassafras