Lora Conrad lives on a small farm in Van Buren County.

Sassafras.

One of my favorite smaller trees, Sassafras albidum, is considered native to Iowa. However, it has been found in the wild only in one or two counties along the Mississippi River, one of which is Lee, adjacent to Van Buren where I set out two in my yard.

Sassafras is prevalent across the southeast and northeast, including adjacent Missouri and Illinois. It is a member of the Laurel family. The origin of the name is believed to be a mispronunciation by 16th century European explorers of the botanical family Saxifrage. Here is a map showing its native areas from BONAP:

Identification

Sassafras is usually a small tree, though they can reach heights of 60 feet. Most often they are a shapely small tree that in excellent conditions will put up sprouts near the main trunk, similar to what Iowa’s native dogwoods will do.

Here is an image of a young tree in spring bloom between late March and mid-April in Van Buren. Mine in Van Buren have put up very few sprouts—but none until they were about 12 years of age or older.

Here is one in fall colors:

A young sprout is shown here, not far from its parent plant.

Sassafras leaves are of three types as you can see in this photo of spring leaves:

The leaf shapes are an oval leaf, one with a single lobe on one side and a three-lobed leaf. The leaves have smooth edges.

Sassafras reproduction: The male tree

Sassafras is a dioecious species, having male and female flowers on different trees. The two I have, by sheerest chance, are a male and a female tree.

The male tree has grown tall and straight, with no sprouts. He may prove to be one of the taller sassafras trees one day.

His spring blossoms look similar at a distance to those of the female tree, though they are larger.

His leaves always turn various shades of yellow and orange each fall. Note the bark texture in this photo with fall leaves.

All three leaf types are in this photo detail of his fall color.

The female Sassafras

The female tree I have is not as tall and has a more rounded growth habit than the male tree. Here she is pictured in her fall glory of red leaves. She has produced several sprouts which are clones of the parent. However, as this photo shows, those sprouts have yellow rather than red leaves this year.

Her bright yellow flowers appear in the spring, usually at the same time as the male tree blooms.

The green berries follow in early summer.

About a month later, the stems begin reddening.

By mid August, the berries are ripening.

Birds snap up the berries as soon as they are ripe! By late August, only the red stems are left behind.

But never fear, she is preparing quickly for next season. By about mid-October, new buds for next springs blossoms have formed yet the red stems of this year’s berries yet remain.

But by the time the first hint of leaf color change begins, all the buds are fat and the red stems are gone. Typically, this happens around early October.

Her leaves will soon turn reddish green then finish their change to a rich red by mid to late October, depending upon the weather change. They will drop only when cold weather begins.

Traditional uses

Sassafras has been used medicinally by indigenous peoples and the European settlers of the southeast. The Eastern Band of Cherokee are known for using sassafras tea. The aromatic, cinnamon colored roots make a tasty tea that I enjoyed in the past many times. It has a rich, warm spice aroma and taste.

Sassafras oil was the original flavoring for root beer. The smell of root beer is that of the fresh Sassafras root.

The Choctaw people used dried Sassafras leaves as a thickener before colonization. Now called filé powder, it is still used for thickening gumbo.

Directions for preparing all three are summarized here:

Gather the leaves anytime they are green from the saplings of root suckers or by snapping off the ends of green twigs from smaller branches. Dry the leaves and use as a filé powder to thicken and flavor gumbo and soups, adding at the end of cooking. Store in airtight containers and use within six months. To harvest the roots and bark, look for 1- to 3-foot-tall saplings growing near mature sassafras trees. Dig them up. Simmer chopped roots and bark in water for tea, or sweeten and add seltzer or club soda for homemade root beer.

As a child, I often broke small limbs from a Sassafras to chew on the end of it for flavor or to use as a temporary toothbrush.

Controversy

The bark and roots of Sassafras have significant concentrations of safrole. The Food and Drug Administration has banned safrole and sassafras oil as carcinogenic since 1960; they cannot be used in food manufacturing. This is because, in sufficient doses, safrole causes genotoxicity, cell toxicity, oxidative stress, and liver cancer in laboratory rats. No correlation has yet been found in humans who consume significant amounts of Sassafras.

Sassafras oil can be as high as 80 percent safrole. Until that ban, sassafras oil was a popular ingredient in food, beverages, cleaners, and cosmetics. Sassafras is not the only common food that contains safrole. Black pepper, cocoa, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, tarragon, star anise, fennel, parsley, basil, bay laurel, dill, pimento, and cloves all contain measurable amounts of safrole, although the concentration is lower than in Sassafras roots, bark and oil.

Note that the leaves do not contain detectable amounts of safrole, so they are still used for filé powder.

Sassafras in your yard?

Sassafras will thrive both in full sun and partial shade. It tolerates a wide variety of soil types and moisture levels also. It has both a strong tap root and makes lateral roots that produce sprouts, which make it more tolerant of varying moisture content.

To establish new trees, either dig sprouts and replant or sprout seed. A Sassafras tree provides beauty in all seasons. In addition to the leaves, flowers and fruit, it is even lovely in winter. (The wire cage prevents deer from rubbing off the bark or nibbling on the tender limbs.)

Cardinal and other birds rest on its limbs in winter as they await their turn at the feeders.

Value to wildlife

Deer, groundhogs, rabbits, and black bears browse the leaves of Sassafras. Numerous birds eat the ripe fruit, including northern bobwhites, eastern kingbirds, great crested flycatchers, phoebes, wild turkeys, catbirds, flickers, pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, thrushes, vireos, and mockingbirds, according to the USDA database.

Sassafras is also a food plant for caterpillars of spicebush swallowtail and tiger swallowtail butterflies.

A disease called Laurel Wilt, which was first detected in 2002, poses a serious threat. It has spread to twelve states in the southeast, killing thousands of Redbay and Sassafras trees. A fungus causes the disease, and wood boring non-native redbay ambrosia beetles transmit that fungus only to members of the Laurel family. Like the loss of Iowa’s Ash trees, there is no cure—only prevention of infection. This page has more details on laurel wilt.

Conclusion

Sassafras is a lovely small tree with an interesting history, beautiful foliage in all seasons, colorful flowers, and fruit for wildlife. It also has medicinal value, provides gumbo seasoning and for some of us, an occasional cup of tea. An excellent yard tree for Iowans, in the southern half of the state especially. Be very careful where you obtain one-do not contribute to the loss of all the Sassafras trees.

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References:
For more details on the topics discussed, see these links which were used in preparing this article.

Map showing spread of Sassafras across the country.
https://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Sassafras%20albidum.png

Botanical information about Sassafras
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/sasalb/all.html
https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_saal5.pdf

The Flowers of Sassafras
https://wildeherb.com/2016/05/10/blooming-sassafras-in-male-and-female-flowers/

Uses of Sassafras by Indigenous Peoples
https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/sassafras-native-gem-of-north-america/

Indigenous Peoples’ Perspective Project
https://www.adkinsarboretum.org/programs_events/ipp/sassafras.html

Making Sassafras Tea
https://www.seriouseats.com/down-south-sassafras-tea-draft

Dissertation entitled Sassafras Tea: Using a Traditional Method of Preparation to
Reduce the Carcinogenic Compound Safrole
https://open.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2345&context=all_theses

The Root in Root Beer
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/root-root-beer-sassafras

Filé powder – what it is and how to use it
https://www.destination-kitchen.com/post/what-is-file-powder

Growing Sassafras
https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/through-the-seasons-with-sassafras/

Laurel Wilt discussions
https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/pathogens-and-diseases/laurel-wilt
https://forestry.ca.uky.edu/laurel-wilt