| Scientific name | Sassafras albidum (previously known as Laurus albidus; Laurus sassafras; Sassafras albidum var. molle; Sassafras officinale; Sassafras sassafras; Sassafras variifolium) |
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| Common name | Sassafras; cinnamon wood; common sassafras; mitten tree; white sassafras |
Top photo by J. Mickey at Carvers Creek State Park
About This Tree
Have you ever had a nice cold glass of root beer on a hot summer's day? Did you know that root beer was first made from the sassafras plant? It was also used for making tea, and before modern antibiotics were common, sassafras roots steeped in water were used to fight infections. However, sassafras is not considered safe to drink or use anymore, and modern teas and sodas combine other flavors to get a similar taste. Besides being the original root beer, ground up sassafras was also used in the South as a thickening agent for soups and gumbo. The aromatic wood from the sassafras tree was believed to repel bugs and used to make bed frames and flooring.
Identifying Sassafras
The first step in finding sassafras is knowing where to look to find it. Sassafras is considered an "early successional" plant, which means that it tends to grow quickly in areas that have been disturbed by things like fires or tree cutting. Sassafras likes direct sun, and plenty of it, and can even die out if its sunlight is taken by other trees or growth. Look for sassafras in areas that have been burned in the past year or two, or near the edges of our maintained trails. Those areas, especially the areas that have been burned in the past few years, have good sunlight and the sandy soil that sassafras that does best in.
At Long Valley Farm, if you walk down the Rockefeller Loop Trail from the park office for about a quarter mile, you will find an interpretive signboard on your left. The area is open to the sun, and you will also see the distinctive black layer that remains from a prescribed burn under a couple seasons' worth of pine straw and leaf debris. That's a great area to look for sassafras along the trail.
When looking for sassafras, the biggest giveaway is the distinctive leaf patterns. Sassafras is one of the few trees that has more than one shape of leaf on the same tree. Sassafras commonly has three leaf shapes on each plant. One is a mitten-shaped leaf; another is an oval, single-pointed leaf; and the third is a three-pointed, turkey-track-shaped leaf. Once you start looking closely at the leaves, you will quickly get very skilled at identifying sassafras!
In the late summer and fall, sassafras leaves turn yellow, orange, and red. At Carvers Creek State Park, some of the sassafras leaves are beginning to turn now. Within the community of plants and animals, sassafras acts as a host for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. The caterpillars feed on the young leaves. The adult butterfly is black with ivory-colored spots along the edges of its wings, and it is a common sight throughout the park from spring to early fall.
Sassafras has a role in American history also. During the explorations of Sir Francis Drake in the late 1500s, he returned to England with a ship full of sassafras roots. It quickly became a favorite drink and health tonic, and a few years later, it become so valuable that expeditions were sent to America just to harvest sassafras roots. In fact, when the rights to the Jamestown settlement were granted by the English crown, they were required to send 30 tons of roots back to England every year!
Succession in Plan Communities
Earlier we talked about how sassafras is considered an "early successional" plant. That's because when a landscape changes due to something like a fire or a lot of destructive insects, it has to begin to regrow. But the plants that thrive in a fully wooded and mature forest and may not be able to regrow in an area with a lot of sun and dry ground. That allows plants like the sassafras to take root early and become part of the foundation of the new growth. The early plants help secure loose soil and add nutrients back in the ground for later plants. The early growing plants begin to shade the ground, help to retain moisture, and make other changes, which encourages different types of plants to grow and eventually overtake the sassafras. It's all part of the delicate balance of nature that supports our world. (See the newsletter for an illustration of succession in plant communities.)