Birds, including quail, feed on the purple fruits. The warm borwn bark of older Sassafras trees grows along raodsides and fencerows, and in open fields, in well-drained, acid soils.
Sassafras, called Green Stick by the Indians because of its bright green twigs, is a common eastern tree or shrub with peculiar, mitten-shaped, three-lobed leaves. Some are entire, a few have two lobes, but all turn a rich orange and red in autumn. Children chew the aromatic twigs. Older people recall the teas and tonics made from Sassafras roots.
