From medicinal properties to writing emblems to the perils of capitalism, the sassafras has a long interaction with humans who both admire it and have used it for health. Today, it acts as a lovely tree that lends itself to passionate tree huggers who reminisce in its vibrant fall colors.
Novelist Frances Trollope raged through America complaining about anything from President Jefferson to the ugliness of American women. Though, as cynical as her perspectives of America were, she had room in her heart for the sassafras tree, “The leaves grow in tufts, and every tuft contains five or six different forms. The fruit is singularly beautiful; it resembles a small acorn, and is jet black; the cups and stem looking as if they were made of red coral.”
Sassafras is most likely and most frequently noted to be derived from an American Indian name that sounds similar to sassafras. It’s genus has two to three species and contains deciduous mitten like leaves. Hence one species being tagged the mittenleaf. Two to three “fingers” of the mitten can exist. Leaves with two lobes ask for a hand to be placed inside their familiar shape. As Frances notes the beauty of this tree and laments it’s location in the world, in the terrible southeastern portion of the United States, others note it’s gorgeous variegated fall colors. It ranges from vibrant red, to orange, and to yellow before the brittle break lands the leaf on the ground below it.
Second to Tobacco, the sassafras wood was the second largest product to be exported from Virginia to Britain. It was believed to cure a diversity of ailments that plagued the world at the time; especially in Europe. This of course hadn’t been the first time the tree was used medicinally. It had been used for health purposes mixed along with opium for centuries.
Humans have long interacted and have mapped meaning and culture onto the sassafras, fortunately for the purpose of identifying trees, its look has remained constant over the course of history. The sassafras albidum has a domed crown created by a convoluted assortment of contorted branches. The bark on younger saplings are green to a light red with the development of furrowing crevices. This creates an intensely coarse texture. Twigs generally remain an bright green before transitioning to red as the sun thickens its branches. As leaves arrive so do a fluffy droop of yellowish green flowers. Almost like an unfolding burst of pillowing fireworks. Berries develop as tiny dark blue bulbs unfold from red stalks.
These trees can be found in southeastern United States in sparse woods or on their edges. The are frequently found in old fields as well.
