Sassafras hesperia 01.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Sassafras'' is a genus of three
extant Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...
, native to eastern
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eocene Dicotyledonous Plants from Republic, Northeastern Washington". ''United States Geological Survey Bulletin'' 1597:13 The genus is distinguished by its aromatic properties, which have made the tree useful to humans.


Description

Sassafras trees grow from tall with many slender sympodial branches and smooth, orange-brown bark or yellow bark. All parts of the plants are fragrant. The species are unusual in having three distinct leaf patterns on the same plant: unlobed oval, bilobed (mitten-shaped), and trilobed (three-pronged); the leaves are hardly ever five-lobed.Noble Plant Image Galler
Sassafras (includes photo of five-lobed leaf)
Three-lobed leaves are more common in ''
Sassafras tzumu ''Sassafras tzumu'' (Chinese sassafras, Cha mu) is a species of ''Sassafras'' native to China, in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. It grows in either sparse or dense forests habitat ...
'' and '' S. randaiense'' than in their North American counterparts, although three-lobed leaves sometimes occur on '' S. albidum''. The young leaves and twigs are quite mucilaginous and produce a citrus-like scent when crushed. The tiny, yellow flowers are generally six-petaled; ''S. albidum'' and (the extinct) '' S. hesperia'' are
dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
, with male and female flowers on separate trees, while ''S. tzumu'' and ''S. randaiense'' have male and female flowers occurring on the same trees. The fruit is a
drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...
, blue-black when ripe. File:Sassafras albidum, Sassafras pistillate flowers, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman 2017-07-25-20.11 (38413696475).jpg, Pistillate (female) flowers File:Sassafras albidum, Sassafras staminate flowers, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman 2017-07-25-20.19 (24427586417).jpg, Staminate (male) flowers The largest known sassafras tree in the world is in
Owensboro, Kentucky Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lou ...
, and is over high and in circumference.


Taxonomy

The genus ''Sassafras'' was first described by the
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
n botanist
Jan Presl Jan Svatopluk Presl (4 September 1791 – 6 April 1849) was a Czech natural scientist. He was the brother of botanist Carl Borivoj Presl (1794–1852). The Czech Botanical Society commemorated the two brothers by naming its principal publication ...
in 1825. The name "sassafras", applied by the botanist
Nicolas Monardes Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
in 1569, comes from the French . Some sources claim it originates from the Latin or : "stone-breaking"; "rock" + "to break"). Sassafras trees are not within the family Saxifragaceae. Early European colonists reported that the plant was called ''winauk'' by Native Americans in Delaware and Virginia and ''pauane'' by the Timucua. Native Americans distinguished between white sassafras and red sassafras, terms which referred to different parts of the same plant but with distinct colors and uses. Sassafras was known as fennel wood (German ) due to its distinctive aroma.


Species

The genus ''Sassafras'' includes four species, three extant and one extinct. Sassafras plants are endemic to North America and East Asia, with two species in each region that are distinguished by some important characteristics, including the frequency of three-lobed leaves (more frequent in East Asian species) and aspects of their sexual reproduction (North American species being dioecious). Taiwanese sassafras, Taiwan, is treated by some botanists in a distinct genus as ''Yushunia randaiensis'' (Hayata) Kamikoti, though this is not supported by recent genetic evidence, which shows ''Sassafras'' to be
monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
.Kamikoti, S. (1933). ''Ann. Rep. Taihoku Bot. Gard''. 3: 78


North America

*'' Sassafras albidum'' (Nuttall) Nees – sassafras, white sassafras, red sassafras, or silky sassafras, eastern North America, from southernmost Ontario, Canada through the eastern United States, south to central Florida, and west to southern Iowa and East Texas, formerly, Wisconsin *†''
Sassafras hesperia ''Sassafras hesperia'' is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae. Distribution The species is known from fossil leaves found in the early Eocene, Ypresian stage, Klondike Mountain Formation deposits of northern Washingto ...
'' (Berry) – western North American, from the Eocene
Klondike Mountain Formation The Klondike Mountain Formation is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) geological formation located in the northeast central area of Washington state. The formation, named for the type location designated in 1962, Klondike Mountain north of Republic, Wash ...
of Washington and British Columbia; extinct, known only from fossils.


East Asia

*''
Sassafras tzumu ''Sassafras tzumu'' (Chinese sassafras, Cha mu) is a species of ''Sassafras'' native to China, in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. It grows in either sparse or dense forests habitat ...
'' (Hemsl.) Hemsl. – Chinese sassafras or ''tzumu'', central and southwestern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
*''
Sassafras randaiense ''Sassafras randaiense'' is a species of deciduous tree in the family Lauraceae belonging to the genus ''Sassafras''. It is a relict species endemic to Taiwan. It is threatened by habitat loss. Classification ''Sassafras randaiense'' is treate ...
'' (Hayata) Rehd. – Taiwan


Distribution and habitat

Many
Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...
are aromatic, evergreen trees or shrubs adapted to high rainfall and humidity, but the genus ''Sassafras'' is deciduous. Deciduous sassafras trees lose all of their
leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
for part of the year, depending on variations in rainfall. In deciduous tropical Lauraceae, leaf loss coincides with the dry season in tropical, subtropical and arid regions. Sassafras is commonly found in open woods, along fences, or in fields. It grows well in moist, well-drained, or sandy loam soils and tolerates a variety of soil types, attaining a maximum in southern and wetter areas of distribution. ''Sassafras albidum'' ranges from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas, in North America. ''S. tzumu'' may be found in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang, China. ''S. randaiense'' is native to Taiwan.


Ecology

The leaves, bark, twigs, stems, and fruits are eaten by birds and mammals in small quantities. For most animals, sassafras is not consumed in large enough quantities to be important, although it is an important deer food in some areas. Carey and Gill rate its value to wildlife as fair, their lowest rating. Sassafras leaves and twigs are consumed by white-tailed deer and
porcupine Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
s. Other sassafras leaf browsers include groundhogs,
marsh rabbit The marsh rabbit (''Sylvilagus palustris'') is a small cottontail rabbit found in marshes and swamps of coastal regions of the Eastern and Southern United States. It is a strong swimmer and found only near regions of water. It is similar in app ...
s, and
American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...
s. Rabbits eat sassafras bark in winter. American beavers will cut sassafras stems. Sassafras fruits are eaten by many species of birds, including bobwhite quail, eastern kingbirds, great crested flycatchers, phoebes, wild turkeys, gray catbirds,
northern flicker The northern flicker or common flicker (''Colaptes auratus'') is a medium-sized bird of the woodpecker family. It is native to most of North America, parts of Central America, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, and is one of the few woodpecker spec ...
s, pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, thrushes, vireos, and northern mockingbirds. Some small mammals also consume sassafras fruits.This section incorporates text from a public domain work of the US government:


Toxicity

Sassafras oil contains safrole, which may have a carcinogenic effect.


Uses

All parts of sassafras plants, including roots, stems, twig leaves, bark, flowers, and fruit, have been used for culinary, medicinal, and aromatic purposes, both in areas where they are endemic and in areas where they were imported, such as Europe. The wood of sassafras trees has been used as a material for building ships and furniture in China, Europe, and the United States, and sassafras played an important role in the history of the European colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. Sassafras twigs have been used as toothbrushes and fire starters.


Culinary

''Sassafras albidum'' is an important ingredient in some distinct foods of the US. It is the main ingredient in traditional root beer and sassafras root tea, and ground leaves of sassafras are a distinctive additive in Louisiana Creole cuisine. It is used in filé powder, a common thickening and flavoring agent in gumbo. Methods of cooking with sassafras combine this ingredient native to America with traditional North American, as well as European, culinary techniques, to create a unique blend of Creole cuisine, and are thought by some to be heavily influenced by a blend of cultures. Sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer since sassafras oil was banned for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1960 due to health concerns about the carcinogenicity of safrole, a major constituent of sassafras oil, in animal studies.Safrole: Human Health Effects. Toxnet: Toxicology Data Network. https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+2653 Sassafras leaves and flowers have also been used in salads, and to flavor fats or cure meats. The young twigs can also be eaten fresh or dried. Additionally, the subterranean portion of the plant can be peeled, dried and boiled to make tea.


Traditional medicine

Numerous 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. East Asian types of sassafras such as ''S. tzumu'' (chu mu) and ''S. randaiense'' (chu shu) are used in Chinese medicine to treat
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...
and trauma. Some modern researchers conclude that the oil, roots and bark of sassafras have
analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...
and antiseptic properties. Different parts of the sassafras plant (including the leaves and stems, the bark, and the roots) have been used to treat scurvy, skin sores, kidney problems, toothaches,
rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...
, swelling,
menstrual The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...
disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, bronchitis,
hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
, and dysentery. It is also used as a fungicide, dentifrice, rubefacient, diaphoretic, perfume, carminative and sudorific.Tiffany Leptuck, "Medical Attributes of 'Sassafras albidum' – Sassafras"], Kenneth M. Klemow, Ph.D., Wilkes-Barre University, 2003 Before the twentieth century, Sassafras enjoyed a great reputation in the medical literature, but became valued for its power to improve the flavor of other medicines.Keeler, H. L. (1900). ''Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Sassafras root was an early export from North America, as early as 1609. Sassafras wood and oil were both used in dentistry. Early toothbrushes were crafted from sassafras twigs or wood because of its aromatic properties. Sassafras was also used as an early dental anesthetic and disinfectant.


Wood

''Sassafras albidum'' is often grown as an
ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...
for its unusual leaves and aromatic scent. Outside of its native area, it is occasionally cultivated in Europe and elsewhere.U.S. Forest Service
''Sassafras albidum'' (pdf file)
The durable and beautiful wood of sassafras plants has been used in shipbuilding and furniture-making in North America, in Asia, and in Europe (once Europeans were introduced to the plant). 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 found within the wood and the leaves.


Oil and aroma

Steam distillation Steam distillation is a separation process that consists in distilling water together with other volatile and non-volatile components. The steam from the boiling water carries the vapor of the volatiles to a condenser; both are cooled and ret ...
of dried root bark produces an
essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...
which has a high safrole content, as well as significant amounts of varying other chemicals such as
camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...
,
eugenol Eugenol is an allyl chain-substituted guaiacol, a member of the allylbenzene class of chemical compounds. It is a colorless to pale yellow, aromatic oily liquid extracted from certain essential oils especially from clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil ...
(including 5-methoxyeugenol),
asarone Asarone is chemical compound of the phenylpropanoid class found in certain plants such as ''Acorus'' and ''Asarum''. There are two isomers, α (or ''trans'') and β (or ''cis''). As a volatile fragrance oil, it is used in killing pests and bacte ...
, and various sesquiterpenes. Many other trees contain similarly high percentages and their extracted oils are sometimes referred to as sassafras oil, which once was extensively used as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps, food and for aromatherapy. Safrole is a precursor for the clandestine manufacture of the drugs
MDA MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...
and MDMA, and as such, sales and import of sassafras oil (as a safrole-containing mixture of above-threshold concentration) are heavily restricted in the US. Sassafras oil has also been used as a natural insect or pest deterrent, and in
liqueur A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyond ...
s (such as the opium-based Godfrey's), and in homemade liquor to mask strong or unpleasant smells. Sassafras oil has also been added to soap and other toiletries. It is banned in the United States for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the
FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...
as a potential carcinogen.


Commercial use

For a more detailed description of uses by indigenous peoples of North America, and a history of the commercial use of ''Sassafras albidum'' by Europeans in the United States in the 16th and 17th centuries, see the article on the extant North American species of sassafras, '' Sassafras albidum''. In modern times, the sassafras plant has been grown and harvested for the extraction of sassafras oil. It is used in a variety of commercial products or their syntheses, such as the insecticide synergistic compound piperonyl butoxide.Robert L. Metcalf "Insect Control" in Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry" Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2002. These plants are primarily harvested for commercial purposes in Asia and Brazil.


References


External links


U of Arkansas: Division of Agriculture Plant of the Week: Sassafras

GardenGuides.com Sassafras – Shrub Plant Guide

Plants for a Future: Plant Portrait – Sassafras albidum






* ttp://www.fossilmuseum.net/plantfossils/Sassafras-hesperia/Sassafras.htm FossilMuseum.net: Rare Sassafras Plant Fossilsbr>US Forest Service
{{Taxonbar, from=Q131532 Lauraceae genera Medicinal plants Non-timber forest products Lauraceae