Читать книгу Cane Topper Woodcarving - Lora S. Irish - Страница 19

This small deciduous tree, which grows 30 feet (9m) to 50 feet (15m) tall, is native to eastern North America and eastern Asia. The bark of the new branches has a smooth, mid-gray colored texture during its early growth, with the trunk and older branches having a deeply furrowed, red-brown colored bark.

Because of the small size of this tree, it is not a common furniture or woodworking wood. Instead, it is used in creating essential oils for perfume and soaps, as well as acting as the primary ingredient in root beer.

Sassafras is the host plant—the primary food source—for spicebush swallowtail butterflies. It is an excellent winter food for white-tailed deer, groundhogs, and black bears, as well as a summer source of berries for bobwhite quail, wild turkeys, and woodpeckers. Look along old fence lines and crop-field drainage ditches for this walking stick wood. It is a wonderful ornamental yard tree that brings butterflies to your flower and vegetable gardens.