The sassafras genus as a part of the family Lauraceae is very small. There is a species found in southeast Asia. Our Sassafras variifolium is the only species in North America and is found growing only in eastern North America. The name sassafras is a corruption of the Spanish “saxifras” which is a species of saxafraga that is supposed to have the same “virtues” of healing. The “variifolium” describes the three kinds of leaves the tree possesses. A common name is “mittenleaf” and another given by the early settlers is “cinnamon wood.” The Indians called it “wah-eh-nak-kas” or “smelling stick.”
The bark on the roots of the sassafras has given the tree its fame. This bark yields an oil that was once prized beyond all reason for its medicinal value. No other American tree was ever exalted for its “virtues” as this tree has been. Oil of sassafras has never ceased to be of some importance in the manufacture of soaps and perfumes. It is also used to disguise the bad taste of some medicines and is still employed to flavor candy. Another good use made of the leaves is to dry and powder them and add a few spoonfuls to a kettle of gumbo soup for both flavor and thickening. This is a real Southern custom.
The wood of the sassafras is durable in both soil and water and has many uses. It is said to have less shrinkage than any other hard wood so it is used for fence posts, boats, barrels, and fishing rods. The odor was supposed to drive away all kinds of bugs so the early pioneers made bedsteads from it and cabin floors in the South were often laid in sassafras for the same reason.
The sassafras tree is certainly worthy of a place in the home garden. When growing in its native habitat and allowed to “roam” it will sucker and grow in groups and will then tend to grow narrow and upright. Grown individually under cultivation and out in the open it will make a fine tree and the suckering habit can easily be controlled. It can be used either as a background tree or as a lawn specimen. The sassafras will grow in a poor gravelly or sandy soil but of course would appreciate better growing conditions, like almost anything else. It will tolerate shade. It is a hard tree to transplant from the wild unless the small trees, really suckers, are cut loose from the mother tree some time ahead of transplanting in order to develop a better root system. One thing in its favor is the fact that living wood of the sassafras tree is never destroyed by borers.
Plant care info you grandmother would love and more at Plant-Care.com – for example:
Filed under General by