Pros:

scent (duh!)
leaf shape
small flowers (have to be close to appreciate)
berries (wildlife food etc)
fall leaf color
fall leaf color
fall leaf color
Did you see Arktrees' pics of fall leaf color he just posted?

Cons:
Suckering
Not incredibly long lived
Drought sensitive around here

A tree that belongs in a collection as large as yours :)

John

i saw the color on mine.. and his pix reminded me to make the post ...

will i regret leaving them.. when i find 1000 more seedlings.. i guess that is the root of the query ..

ken

Eh... you have redbuds and I presume other mass propagators in the area. You have stated before you roundup a lot of seedlings. A few more won't make much of a difference, right?

In addition to John's points.

Pros:
Tough trees.
Will grow in very poor soil.
Fast growth.
Grows to a medium sized tree to as much as 40'+ here.
No disease problems that I am aware of.

Con:
Can be v spreading, but I don't consider it to be "prolific". They usually pop up where bird... "deposit" the seed.
Considered difficult to transplant.
Not sure if they are shallow rooted.
Variable individual color. If you have a preference for a color, then probable would be best to start a significant number from seed, and select those that you prefer.

Arktrees

There was one growing within the canopy of a Pinus parviflora 'Glauca'. I had to break it down myself. Hopefully the botanic garden staff didn't mind.

I think everyone has covered it all. In the end they are actually ugly trees for habit IMO.

If you're considering for the sake of fall color you and I know there are better plants.

I agree somewhat with whaas, there. They are NOT focal point trees, but terrific trees at the woods edge. IMO, they are ideally sited here as their offspring will mostly go back into the woods. Of course that placement loses the scent appeal.

I will be transplanting one in my "yard" and it will be sited in the middle of Oct Glory red maple, Oregon Trail/Hiawatha sugar maple, bald cypress and a cottonwood. It will not have to stand out there, but hopefully it will be give a few weeks of interest in it's peak season, fall.

John

whass,
FWIW, I have seen plenty here that are in normal tree form, and you would not know that they were Sassafras if you did not look closely. As for fall color, there are allot of brightly colored plants in the fall here, and Sassafras is among the brightest. Individual color ranges from bright yellow, to bright orange, bright red, burgundy, to purple. All at max color. With all that said, that is for here in North Arkansas, and I can not say what they do in Wisconsin or Michigan. They may not grow as tall, or color as well, or any number of other things. But for our area at least, they are IMHO worthy of being a yard tree, and that would make it easier to keep any possible suckers mowed down. However they are probable not a focal point trees as John said. Also couldn't recommend gardening under them as Ken likes to do since they are sensitive to root disturbance.

JMHO
Arktrees

To be honest I only see them growing in the woods and in places they shouldn't be growing, lol.

I've never seen one manacured under a landscape situation.

Japanese beetles love them here.

I love sassafras trees!

Here's another set of pros/cons:

Pro: You could make sassafras tea!

Con: You might suffer liver damage if you drank enough of it. ('Course if you drink enough water, it will kill you too.)

You could make real root beer. And there's a cajun spice made from the leaves, I think.

I want to grow some eventually, for the former reason.

Your grand-kids will kick a kick out of smelling the leaves and a memory! They'll probably remember when you tell them the roots are used for making root beer, then invite them inside for some root beer!

Another pro:

Primary host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail

Very beautiful butterfly and interesting caterpillars. They have those fake "eyes", that psyche out predators. I raised 8 of them this summer.

Ken, you're fortunate. Here (and also down in SW VA), a kind of virulent anthracnose has been killing most of the mature & seedling sassafras trees for over 20 yrs.

Maybe it's only a local thing as I haven't heard it mentioned anywhere. But it killed an old (3 ft dia), beautiful lawn specimen just this past summer in La Vale, MD.

Invasive. I need to cut down many saplings every year because lateral runners from a neighbor's tree invade my property. Carcinogenic properties.

As with most suckers, they can be controlled by mowing, BEFORE they become too large to be cut off.