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Lauraceae FAMILY

Sassafras albidum

Sassafras albidum

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The extracted essential oil (as is the case with most essential oils in common use) is poisonous in large quantities[1, 2]. The essential oil contains up to 80% safrole which is considered to be carcinogenic and potentially harmful to the liver[3]. It is also suspected of causing contact dermatitis and of being hallucinogenic, especially in large doses[4]. The essential oil has been banned as a food flavouring in America, even though the potential toxicity is lower than that of alcohol[5].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
Growth—

Sassafras albidum is very cold-hardy when dormant, tolerating temperatures down to around -20°c, The young plant, however, and also the young shoots of older trees, are much more cold sensitive and can be badly damaged by late spring frosts[6, 7]. The plant is found in areas where the mean annual rainfall varies from 760 - 1,400mm, with the majority of it falling during the growing seson. At the northern limits of the range, the average annual snowfall is between 760 - 1,020mm, while in the southern limits there may be only 25mm or less. The average frost-free period is from 160 - 300 days. In January average temperatures are -7°c in the north and 13°c in the south; the average July temperatures vary from 21 - 27°c[8]. Grows best in a deep, fertile, moist but well-drained, lime-free to near neutral soil in full sun or light shade[6, 9, 10]. Tolerant of dry, sandy soils[10]. Does well in a woodland garden[11], especially in a sheltered position along the edge[9]. The plant grows best in a pH range of 6 - 7, but can tolerate very acid, sandy soils[12, 10, 8]. A very ornamental plant[13] with a wide range of uses, it is occasionally cultivated and often gathered from the wild[14]. All parts of the tree contain essential oils and give off a pleasant spicy aroma when crushed[15]. The stem bark is highly aromatic, more so than the wood. The root stem bark is the most pleasant of all[16]. The flowers have a spicy perfume[16]. A large taproot makes transplanting established trees very difficult[10].. If root suckers are not removed, the tree will spread and begin to take on the appearance of a large multi-stemmed shrub[15, 10]. Trees are long-lived, moderately fast-growing and disease-free in the wild[17, 15]. They can begin flowering when only 10 years old and good seed crops are usually produced every 2 - 3 years[15]. The plant is fairly tolerant of fires. Top growth can survive less severe fires but, even if killed off in more severe fires, the roots usually survive and sprout very freely[18]. Although some flowers appear to be hermaphrodite, they are functionally either male or female and most trees are dioecious[15]. Both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame[9]. Stored seed requires 4 months cold stratification at 4°c[19]. It is best sown as early in the year as possible. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as possible and grow them on in the greenhouse. One report says to harden off the plants as soon as possible[20], but young plants are frost-tender[6] and so we recommend growing them on in the greenhouse for their first winter and then planting them out in early summer. Give the young trees some protection for at least their first winter outdoors[PFAF]. Root cuttings, taken from suckers, 1 - 2cm long taken in December. Plant horizontally in pots in a greenhouse[20]. Suckers in late winter. Plant straight out into their permanent positions[9]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Sassafras+albidum>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  2. [2]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  3. [3]Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas — Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J · Botanical Research Institute, Texas. · 1999 · http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm · ISBN 1-889878-01-4 ↩︎An excellent flora, which is also available on-line.
  4. [4]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  5. [5]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  6. [6]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  7. [7]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  8. [8]Silvics of North America. Agricultural Handbook No. 654. — Burns. R.M. & Honkala. B.H. · USDA Forest Service; Washington DC. · 1990 · http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/table_of_contents.htm ↩︎A very comprehensice guide to about 200 species of timber trees of N. America, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Mainly temperate species, plus a number of tropical species. It is downloadable from the Internet.
  9. [9]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  10. [10]KemperCentreForHomeGardeningPlantFinder — Missouri Botanical Garden · http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/ ↩︎Basic cultivation details, plant uses, habitat etc for several thousand species of plants, mainly from the temperate zone.
  11. [11]The Milder Garden. — Taylor. J. · Dent · 1990 ↩︎A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.
  12. [12]Plants Database — United States Department of Agriculture · http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet ↩︎An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants.
  13. [13]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  14. [14]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  15. [15]The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. — Elias. T. · Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. · 1980 · ISBN 0442238622 ↩︎A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.
  16. [16]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  17. [17]Trees of North Texas — Vines. R.A. · University of Texas Press. · 1982 · ISBN 0292780206 ↩︎A readable guide to the area, it contains descriptions of the plants and their habitats with quite a bit of information on plant uses.
  18. [18]Fire Effects Information System — http://www.feis-crs.org/feis/ ↩︎An on-line information site with comprehensive information on over 1,100 species of plant. Mainly developed to supply information on the effects of fire on plants and animals, it also contains a wealth of other information on the plants
  19. [19]The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. — Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. · Athens Ga. Varsity Press · 1987 · ISBN 0942375009 ↩︎A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.
  20. [20]Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. — Sheat. W. G. · MacMillan and Co · 1948 · ISBN - ↩︎A bit dated but a good book on propagation techniques with specific details for a wide range of plants.
  21. [21]Gray's Manual of Botany.Eighth Edition — Fernald. M. L. · American Book Co.; New York · 1950 · ISBN 0442222505 ↩︎A bit dated but a good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.
  22. [22]A Field Guide to N. American Edible Wild Plants. — Elias. T. and Dykeman. P. · Van Nostrand Reinhold · 1982 · ISBN 0442222009 ↩︎Very readable.
  23. [23]Wild Food Plants of Indiana. — McPherson. A. and S. · Indiana University Press · 1977 · ISBN 0-253-28925-4 ↩︎A nice pocket guide to this region of America.
  24. [24]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  25. [25]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  26. [26]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  27. [27]Eat the Weeds. — Harris. B. C. · Pivot Health · 1973 · ISBN - ↩︎Interesting reading.
  28. [28]Manual of the Trees of N. America. — Sargent. C. S. · Dover Publications Inc. New York. · 1965 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ · ISBN 0-486-20278-X ↩︎Two volumes, a comprehensive listing of N. American trees though a bit out of date now. Good details on habitats, some details on plant uses. Not really for the casual reader. It can be downloaded from the internet.
  29. [29]Native Harvests. — Kavasch. B. · Vintage Books · 1979 · ISBN 0-394-72811-4 ↩︎Another guide to the wild foods of America.
  30. [30]Plants Consumed by Man. — Brouk. B. · Academic Press · 1975 · ISBN 0-12-136450-x ↩︎Readable but not very comprehensive.
  31. [31]Companion Plants. — Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. · Watkins · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
  32. [32]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  33. [33]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  34. [34]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  35. [35]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  36. [36]Earth Medicine, Earth Food. — Weiner. M. A. · Ballantine Books · 1980 · ISBN 0-449-90589-6 ↩︎A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.
  37. [37]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
  38. [38]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  39. [39]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  40. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎