Sassafras

Basic Information
Tree ID: 
173
Family: 
Laurels
Genus and species: 
Sassafras albidum
Description: 
This Sassafras tree stands beside a hilly walkway, blending in with other young trees, including magnolias. Sassafras will always be distinctive, however, due to its aromatic smell. Unique to North America, the sweet and spicy scent of Sassafras may entice you to take a bite. But fear not, you can purchase Sassafras tea or root beer at your nearest market. Its bright green twigs and buds assert its vibrancy even in the cold of winter. Sassafras has kept us warm for centuries as a spicy addition to our cuisine. Every part of the plant is useful: its bark, leaves, and roots have found their way into Native American and US life.
Surveyors: 
KeRen Tan and Evan Bowman
Location
Area: 
Prospect and Sachem
Collected Data
Tree shape: 
Pyramidal
Date of tree entry: 
02/05/2025
Height: 
3.75 m
Diameter at breast height: 
0.07 m

Bark
The bark of the sassafras tree is furrowed and develops vertical strips as it ages.
Twigs & branches
Sassafras twigs are slender and bright green with buds on the ends.
Foilage
Sassafras leaves are lobed with varying numbers and lobe sizes. One tree can have different types of leaves, varying from mitten-shaped to three or four-lobed. Leaves are bright green in the summer and yellow to red in the fall.
Reproductive Structures
Sassafras is dioecious and reproduces with root sprouts and flowers. Their fruits are single-seeded drupes. Birds are the primary method of seed distribution.
Seasons
  • Sassafras in winter
Research
Natural range of distribution: 
Habitat: 
Sassafras is found in deciduous woodlands in the Eastern United States. It benefits from the higher light conditions of forest edges, or areas that were recently burned, and is often found on abandoned farmlands or more open spaces. The placement of this sassafras tree on Science Hill reflects these conditions, as it is not surrounded by larger trees or in a densely packed location.
Origin, history, and uses: 

Sassafras bark has been used by Indigenous communities in North America for medicinal purposes. In Choctaw and Louisiana Creole cuisine, the leaves are dried and added to soups and stews as a thickener. Sassafras is most well-known for its fragrance. Its bark and roots are used to make root beer, sassafras tea, candles and perfume. Sassafras leaves are dried and ground up to make “file” an integral ingredient to gumbo. There are also medicinal uses for Sassafras tea, and it has been used to treat fevers, diarrhea, and skin conditions. Leaves are also placed directly onto skin as they are believed to promote wound healing. 

Phenology: 
Sassafras flowers in April through May and produces fruits in September through October. It is deciduous, and sheds its foliage in the winter.
References: 

Cassidy, K. (2017, February 27). Sassafras: Tree of Teas, Leaves, and Mysteries. Wildlife Leadership Academy. https://wildlifeleadershipacademy.org/sassafras-tree-of-teas-leaves-and-…

Randolph, KaDonna C. “Status ofSassafras Albidum(Nutt.) Nees in the Presence of Laurel Wilt Disease and throughout the Eastern United States.” Southeastern Naturalist, vol. 16, no. 1, Mar. 2017, pp. 37–58, https://doi.org/10.1656/058.016.0104. Accessed 5 Aug. 2022. 

Shade, P. (2022, October 10). Sassafras: Native Gem of North America – CornellBotanicGardens. Cornellbotanicgardens.org. https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/sassafras-native-gem-of-north-america/

Sullivan, J. (1993). Sassafras albidum. Www.fs.usda.gov. https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/sasalb/all.html

Summer Sassafras — A lento by Mark Andrew J Terry. (n.d.). https://allpoetry.com/poem/10449419-Summer-Sassafras—a-Lento-by-Mark-A…

Media and Arts

Grass is floating with the wind,

bass are treading, feathers spreading, 

mass in movement, all chagrinned…

Sassafras is shedding.

Tea refined by bark and leaves,

auxiliary perfumery.

See the tree and how it grieves

the heat’s infirmary. 

-Mark Andrew James Terry

Orlando, Florida

https://allpoetry.com/poem/10449419-Summer-Sassafras—a-Lento-by-Mark-A…

Sassafras: Our American Joy

Ancestors boiled her, shredded her, grinded her, roasted her

And now here she stands

ready to give it all again

She hides brightness beneath her bark

She spreads her magic underfoot

spicy, and herbal, sweet and deep

her limbs root culture into land 

Kvfi became filé in the forests of Louisiana 

Roots became soda in the forests of Maine

Her April rebirth unites time and space

In August, over her shoulder she glances

Gives us a wink

-Evan Bowman

AttachmentSize
File download.mp413.35 MB

Comments

KeRen Tan on April 23, 2025: