Tyson and I were out on a walk today when I suddenly noticed that the overhanging tree I was about to walk into was sassafras. This is rather surprising because even VA where I grew up is near the northern end of their range. We did have a big sassafras right at the end of the driveway. Anyways, so Tyson said he’d seen another leaf like that (three lobed mitten for those who don’t know) a little ways back. So we walked back and then spun around trying to spot that tree. I think we spotted it, but it was a little odd because most of the leaves were one lobbed. Two lobbed is not uncommon, but I don’t know what would cause most of the tree to be one-lobbed.
There’s smatterings of sassafras throughout PA, maybe more on the Eastern side, but I knew what it was growing up.
I love those trees – their undecidedness about how many lobes to put on each leaf I always thought would be good thesis material.