Biggest in the world? That’s awesome

I never heard of a Sassafras until I came here. 😕

Yeah... BIG!

@arbor, thanks, the OH champ looks in better shape than the KY one, tho the one small limb there on the right needs removed.

@Bill, sassafras tea was a common item for sale when I was a kid in MD (prepared from root-shavings), and my mother prepared it on occasion. But scaremongering has removed it from sale some time ago, tho native Americans had prepared it often.

Yeah, I think the only time I heard the word was when watching the 'Beverly Hillbilly's' or 'Dukes of Hazard' back as a young man when I lived in the cities. LOL:

I am beginning to hate those native range maps that shows the plants covering the whole state and it only exists in a small part of it.

These from plant maps gives a better idea of populations even though naturalization can change certain areas.

To me, they've always been 'way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.. :^)

But even further and more widespread yet.

I always thought this video of the Oklahoma state champion sassafras was cool

https://youtu.be/elL50eqTI5A?si=UIXW0O6T8zK73sCM&t=156

Even in the late 80s and 90s when the laurel wilt had already killed alot of sassafras in the forest, enough of them still survived as roots because almost anytime I was digging for some reason, I'd come across the sassafras "smell" when cutting thru its roots.