By Kelly Vowels
Sassafras is a beautiful tree that is often overlooked in the forest. With winter quickly approaching, colors begin to fade within the forest. Sassafras offers beautiful green twigs, red furrowed bark, and large flower buds. It also grows in unique ways from tall and straight to many branching trunks. When you go hiking along many of the trails here at Bernheim, keep an eye out for sassafras. It likes partial shade and can grow from 30 to 60 feet. It has beautiful small yellow flowers in the spring. Its leaves are aromatic and green in the summer and turn from yellow to orange to brilliant red in the fall.