October 2021 Plant Profile: Sassafras albidum
Happy October! As Halloween and spooky season approaches, the best way to celebrate is to visit the Washington Park Arboretum and check out our sassafras. These trees are quite festive as they display leaves shaped like little ghosts (or mittens depending on your viewing angle)! Leaves can have a different number of lobes ranging from 1-3 on the same plant.
This deciduous tree displays vivid colors of fall foliage in yellow, orange, red, and pink. During spring, small yellow blooms can be seen tucked behind the leaves. Like the other four species in the Sassafras genus, the bark, leaves, and flowers have a pleasant and spicy fragrance. Sassafras can be found in deciduous forests, preferring areas with open canopy and full light.
If you are attending any socially-distanced Halloween gatherings this month, remember that sassafras puts the “root” in root beer! Traditional root beer contains the fragrant and flavorful safrole compound, extracted by boiling the roots. This compound is also used to produce MDMA or ecstasy. Oil from the roots is also used in soap and perfume. In 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of sassafras roots in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs.
Native American tribes including the Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, and Iroquois use parts of the plants medicinally, as food, and also fire-starter. Filé powder, a common ingredient in Louisiana Creole gumbo, is made from dried and ground sassafras leaves.
Common Name: Sassafras, white sassafras, red sassafras, silky sassafras
Scientific Name: Sassafras albidum
Locations: There are 6 specimens in our collections at the Washington Park Arboretum. For specific locations, please check our Living Collections database.
Origin: Native to eastern and central USA, and SE Ontario, Canada
Height and Spread: 40-70 feet in height, 25-40 feet spread, generally much less cultivation
Bloom Time: Spring
Fruit Ripens: Summer
Sources:
- Guide to Washington Park Arboretum Vol. 58:no. 1 &2 (1995)
- North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- Eat the Planet
- Native American Ethnobotany Database
- USDA Forest Service