Sassafras albidum

It prefers rich, well-drained sandy loam with a pH of 6–7, but will grow in any loose, moist soil. Seedlings will tolerate shade, but saplings and older trees demand full sunlight for good growth; in forests it typically regenerates in gaps created by windblow. Growth is rapid, particularly with root sprouts, which can reach 1.2 m (3.9 ft) in the first year and 4.5 m (15 ft) in 4 years. Root sprouts often result in dense thickets, and a single tree, if allowed to spread unrestrained, will soon be surrounded by a sizable clonal colony, as its roots extend in every direction and send up multitudes of shoots.^[4][5][13]

S. albidum is a host plant for the caterpillar of the promethea silkmoth, Callosamia promethea.^[14]

Laurel wilt

All parts of the Sassafras albidum plant have been used for human purposes,^{[citation needed]} including stems, leaves, bark, wood, roots, fruit, and flowers.^{[citation needed]} Sassafras albidum, while native to North America, is significant to the economic, medical, and cultural history of both Europe and North America. In North America, it has particular culinary significance, being featured in distinct national foods such as traditional root beer, filé powder, and Louisiana Creole cuisine. Sassafras albidum was an important plant to many Native Americans of the southeastern United States and was used for many purposes, including culinary and medicinal purposes, before the European colonization of North America. Its significance for Native Americans is also magnified, as the European quest for sassafras as a commodity for export brought Europeans into closer contact with Native Americans during the early years of European settlement in the 16th and 17th centuries, in Florida, Virginia, and parts of the Northeast.^{[citation needed]}

Use by Native Americans

Sassafras albidum was a well-used plant by

Some Native American tribes used the leaves of sassafras to treat wounds by rubbing the leaves directly into a wound, and used different parts of the plant for many medicinal purposes such as treating acne, urinary disorders, and sicknesses that increased body temperature, such as high fevers. They also used the bark as a dye, and as a flavoring.[18]

Sassafras wood was also used by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States as a fire-starter because of the flammability of its natural oils.^[19]

In cooking, sassafras was used by some Native Americans to flavor

Sassafras albidum is used primarily in the United States as the key ingredient in home brewed root beer and as a thickener and flavouring in traditional Louisiana Creole gumbo.^[23]

Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, for its use in making gumbo, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree. It was traditionally used by Native Americans in the Southern United States, and was adopted into Louisiana Creole cuisine. Use of filé powder by the Choctaw in the Southern United States in cooking is linked to the development of gumbo, the signature dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine that features ground sassafras leaves.^[22] The leaves and root bark can be pulverized to flavor soup, gravy, and meat.^[11]

Sassafras roots are used to make traditional root beer, although they were banned for commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the U.S.

Further information:

spicebush swallowtail

.

Safrole can be obtained fairly easily from the root bark of Sassafras albidum via steam distillation. It has been used as a natural insect or pest deterrent.

opiates, used sassafras to disguise other strong smells and odours associated with the tonics. It was also used as an additional flavouring to mask the strong odours of homemade liquor in the United States.^[29]

Commercial "sassafras oil," which contains safrole, is generally a byproduct of

MDMA, as well as the drug MDA (3-4 methylenedioxyamphetamine) and as such, its transport is monitored internationally. Safrole is a List I precursor chemical according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.^[30]

The wood is dull orange brown, hard, and durable in contact with the soil; it was used in the past for posts and rails, small boats and ox-yokes, though scarcity and small size limits current use. Some is still used for making furniture.^[31]

History of commercial use

Europeans were first introduced to sassafras, along with other plants such as cranberries, tobacco, and American ginseng, when they arrived in North America.^[20][32]

The aromatic smell of sassafras was described by early European settlers arriving in North America. According to one legend, Christopher Columbus found North America because he could smell the scent of sassafras.^[29] As early as the 1560s, French visitors to North America discovered the medicinal qualities of sassafras, which was also exploited by the Spanish who arrived in Florida.^[33] English settlers at Roanoke reported surviving on boiled sassafras leaves and dog meat during times of starvation.^[34]

Upon the arrival of the English on the Eastern coast of North America, sassafras trees were reported as plentiful. Sassafras was sold in England and in continental Europe, where it was sold as a dark beverage called "saloop" that had medicinal qualities and used as a medicinal cure for a variety of ailments. The discovery of sassafras occurred at the same time as a severe

sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea, and as wood prized for its beauty and durability.^[35][36] Exploration for sassafras was the catalyst for the 1603 commercial expedition from Bristol of Captain Martin Pring to the coasts of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. During a brief period in the early 17th century, sassafras was the second-largest export from the British colonies in North America behind tobacco.^[37]

Since the bark was the most commercially valued part of the sassafras plant due to large concentrations of the aromatic safrole oil, commercially valuable sassafras could only be gathered from each tree once. This meant that as significant amounts of sassafras bark were gathered, supplies quickly diminished and sassafras become more difficult to find. For example, while one of the earliest shipments of sassafras in 1602 weighed as much as a ton, by 1626, English colonists failed to meet their 30-pound quota. The gathering of sassafras bark brought European settlers and Native Americans into contact sometimes dangerous to both groups.[38] Sassafras was such a desired commodity in England, that the Colony of Virginia sought to reach profitability with trade monopolies in sassafras and tobacco.^[39]

Through modern times the sassafras plant, both wild and cultivated, has been harvested for the extraction of safrole, which is used in a variety of commercial products as well as in the manufacture of illegal drugs like MDMA; yet, sassafras plants in China and Brazil are more commonly used for these purposes than North American Sassafras albidum.^[40]

Gallery

• 
  Unilobed leaf
• 
  Bilobed leaf
• 
  Trilobed leaf
• 
  Flowers
• 
  Flowers
• 
  Bark
• 
  The fruit
• 
  Autumn foliage closeup
• 
  Seedling

See also

• Filé powder
• Root beer
• Sarsaparilla
• Sassafras hesperia
• Sassafras randaiense
• Sassafras tzumu

References

1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T62020487A62020489.en
   . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
2. ^ The Plant List, Sassafras albidum
3. ^ Flora of North America: Sassafras albidum
4. ^ ^{a b c} U.S. Forest Service: Sassafras albidum (pdf file)
5. ^ ^{a b c} Hope College, Michigan: Sassafras albidum
6. ^ Griggs, Margene M. (1990). "Sassafras albidum". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Hardwoods. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – via Southern Research Station.
7. ^ "Sassafras albidum " (PDF). University of Florida Horticulture. US Forest Service - Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
8. ^ Although some sources give 30 or 35 meters as the maximum height, as of 1982 the US champion is only 76 feet (23 meters) tall
9. ^ "Sassafras albidum " (PDF). Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
10. ^ Whit Bronaugh (May–June 1994). "The biggest sassafras". American Forests.
11. ^
    OCLC 244766414
    .
12. ^ Flora of North America: Sassafras
13. ^ Keeler, H. L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
14. ^ "Promethea silkmoth Callosamia promethea (Drury, 1773) | Butterflies and Moths of North America". www.butterfliesandmoths.org. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
15. PMID 25007073
    .
16. ^ <http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/00000000/opmp/Redbay%20Laurel%20Wilt%20Recovery%20Plan%20January%202015.pdf> (search--resistan)
17. JSTOR 43996285
    ., s.v. Soup Thickener (kombo ashish) Choctaw
18. ISBN 978-1579541842
    .
19. ISBN 978-0803262058
    .
20. ^
    ISBN 978-0449907139
    .
21. ^
    ISBN 978-0849312793
    .
22. ^
    ISBN 978-1-60473-127-9
23. ^ "The Pot Thickens".
24. ^
    PMID 17362034
    .
25. ^ "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21".
26. ISBN 978-1467710916
    .
27. PMID 16984649
    .
28. ASIN B007KGA15Q
    .
29. ^
    ISBN 978-1466585928
    .
30. ^ "Lists of: Scheduling Actions, Controlled Substances, Regulated Chemicals" (PDF). US Department of Justice. December 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
31. ^ Missouriplants: Sassafras albidum
32. ISBN 978-0520030107
    .
33. ISBN 978-0807841235
    .
34. ISBN 978-0807841105
    .
35. ISBN 978-0-8050-7603-5
    .
36. ^ Tiffany Leptuck, "Medical Attributes of 'Sassafras albidum' - Sassafras"], Kenneth M. Klemow, Ph.D., Wilkes-Barre University, 2003
37. ^ Martin Pring, "The Voyage of Martin Pring, 1603", Summary of his life and expeditions at American Journeys website, 2012, Wisconsin Historical Society
38. ISBN 978-1421402345
    .
39. ISBN 978-1271504855
    .
40. ^ Blickman, Tom (February 3, 2009). "Harvesting Trees". Transational Institute. Transnational Institute. Retrieved April 4, 2015.

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