Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees

Sassafras, white sassafras, ague tree, cinnamon wood, smelling stick, saloop, gumbo file, mitten tree

Sassafras is native to eastern North America. The bark from its roots is processed for sassafras oil, used in perfumes; its leaves produce a spice called gumbo filé.

Plants: Up to 60′ (18 m) tall and 40′ (12 m) around, with an irregular trunk and brown bark that is light brown on the inside. The bark develops coarse ridges and furrows over time.

Leaves: Alternate, most often split into three lobes, sometimes without lobes, and 3–7″ (7.6–17 cm) long. The three-lobed leaves look a little like three-fingered mittens. They are very colorful in the fall. The leaves have a fragrant smell when they are crushed, resembling that of eucalyptus or, by some accounts, Juicy Fruit gum.

Flowers: Bright yellow-green color, appearing in April to May.

Fruits: Dark blue, shiny, oval in shape, ¼″ (8.5 mm) long, attached to a red petiole (stem) with a cup-shaped tip.

Habitats: Woodlands, abandoned fields, groves, and along fences and roadsides.

Edibility: Bark from young sassafras roots is mostly used now to perfume soaps, but in the past it has been used to flavor tea and root beer. However, the active ingredient, safarole, is mildly toxic and weakly carcinogenic: it has been banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The ground, dried leaves are used to produce gumbo filé, used to flavor and thicken Cajun and Creole gumbos. Filé has, according to spice purveyor McCormick, “a flavor similar to thyme and savory” and “a characteristic citrus flavor.”

Online References:

References:

Older scientific or horticultural names

Sassafras albidum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.

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