Sassafras randaiense
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Peter Hoffmann
Credits
Dennis Carey & Mark Weathington (2024)
Recommended citation
Carey, D. & Weathington, M. (2024), 'Sassafras randaiense' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Common Names
- Taiwan Sassafras
- Taiwan Sandalwood
- tai wan cha mu
Synonyms
- Lindera randaiensis Hayata
- Yushunia randaiensis (Hayata) Kamikoti
Medium-sized trees to 20 m tall. Bark dark reddish-brown, longitudinally fissured. Branchlets glossy, thick, green to red-brown with lenticels and prominent leaf scars. Leaves unlobed or with 2–3 lobes, tending towards mostly unlobed leaves on mature trees. Fertile branchlets with mostly unlobed leaves but not exclusively so. Leaf blade pale glaucous below, medium green above, rhombic-ovate, 10–15(–16) × 3–6(–7.5) cm, lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs, base broadly cuneate, apex acute, petiole 3 to 5 cm, more or less red-tinged. Inflorescence terminal or subterminal, appearing before leaves in February to early March, c. 3 cm with 5–6(–9) racemes in an umbel at apex of branchlet, each subtended by 3 to 4 involucral bracts at base. Flowers unisexual or bisexual with 9 fertile stamens in 3 whorls, filaments complanate, those of 3rd whorl each with 2 sessile glands at base; anthers ovoid-oblong. Ovary obovoid, c. 1 mm; style short, c. 1 mm; stigma discoid. Fruit ripening in August to September, globose, blue-black, ~6 mm diameter seated on a shallow cupule, peduncle 3–4 cm. (Li et al. 2005).
Distribution Taiwan central to southern Taiwan
Habitat Evergreen broadleaf forests, 900–2400 m asl.
USDA Hardiness Zone 8a
RHS Hardiness Rating H4
Sassafras randaiense is rare in the wild as well as in cultivation (Chung, van der Werff & Peng 2010). Wild collected material is quite limited in western cultivation as almost all recorded material has arrived via seed from the Taiwan Forestry Institute. It was first introduced to the west from Taiwan by Mark Flanagan and Tony Kirkham in 1992. As recounted in their book (Flanagan & Kirkham 2005), they found the species growing as an understorey to Taiwania cryptomerioides near Chilan Shan, Taiwan but the trees were not fruiting. The seed they brought home was a gift from the Taipei Botanic Garden and the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute.
Sassafras randaiense has a scattered distribution in the middle elevations of Taiwan where the environment is frequently foggy. It is listed as endangered based on IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Plants at Tregrehan, Cornwall, UK are thriving, the largest having reached over 18 m with 111 cm girth by 2024 (The Tree Register 2024); flowers are pale yellow before the foliage emerges and autumn colour is reddish-orange to yellow (T. Hudson, pers. comm. 2023). A tree from the Kirkham & Flanagan introduction growing at Mount Usher, Wicklow, Ireland was 12 m × 18 cm dbh in 2015 (The Tree Register 2024). In the cooler climate of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh growth on a plant growing in a sheltered position in the lower woodland garden is slow but steady (T. Christian pers. comm. 2024). Perhaps the largest extant tree in Taiwan is found at the Guanwu Forest Recreation Area belonging to the Taiwan Forestry Bureau where a giant specimen is growing in front of an old house (Chien-Fan Chen pers. comm. 2023). There is limited information on propagation but when available fresh seed germinates quickly while older seed appears to lose viability or exhibit complex dormancy. Unlike for the other species, root and stem cuttings have rarely proven successful.
