Sassafras

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Sassafras
Sassafras Leaves June Nbg (261691941).jpeg
Sassafras albidum ,
Norfolk Botanical Garden
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Magnoliids
Order: Laurales
Family: Lauraceae
Genus: Sassafras
J.Presl [1]
Species

Sassafras albidum
Sassafras ashleyi
Sassafras columbiana
Sassafras hesperia
Sassafras randaiense
Sassafras tzumu
Sassafras yabei

Contents

Synonyms

Pseudosassafras Lecomte

Sassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia. [2] [3] [4] The genus is distinguished by its aromatic properties, which have made the tree useful to humans.

Description

Sassafras trees grow from 9–35 metres (30–115 feet) tall with many slender sympodial branches and smooth, orange-brown bark or yellow bark. [5] All parts of the plants are fragrant. The species are unusual in having three distinct leaf patterns on the same plant: unlobed oval, bilobed (mitten-shaped), and trilobed (three-pronged); the leaves are hardly ever five-lobed. [6] Three-lobed leaves are more common in Sassafras tzumu and S. randaiense than in their North American counterparts, although three-lobed leaves often occur on S. albidum . The young leaves and twigs are quite mucilaginous and produce a citrus-like scent when crushed. The tiny, yellow flowers are generally six-petaled; S. albidum and (the extinct) S. hesperia are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees, while S. tzumu and S. randaiense have male and female flowers occurring on the same trees. The fruit is a drupe, blue-black when ripe. [2]

The largest known sassafras tree in the world is in Owensboro, Kentucky, and is over 30 m (100 ft) high and 6.4 m (21 ft) in circumference. [7] [8]

Taxonomy

The genus Sassafras was first described by the Bohemian botanist Jan Presl in 1825. [1] The name "sassafras", applied by the botanist Nicolas Monardes in 1569, comes from the French sassafras. Some sources claim it originates from the Latin saxifraga or saxifragus : "stone-breaking"; saxum "rock" + frangere "to break"). [9] [10] Sassafras trees are not within the family Saxifragaceae.[ citation needed ]

Early European colonists reported that the plant was called winauk by Native Americans in Delaware and Virginia and pauane by the Timucua. Native Americans distinguished between white sassafras and red sassafras, terms which referred to different parts of the same plant but with distinct colors and uses. [11] Sassafras was known as fennel wood (German Fenchelholz) due to its distinctive aroma. [12] [ clarification needed ]

Species

The genus Sassafras includes four species, three extant and one extinct. Sassafras plants are endemic to North America and East Asia, with two species in each region that are distinguished by some important characteristics, including the frequency of three-lobed leaves (more frequent in East Asian species) and aspects of their sexual reproduction (North American species being dioecious).[ citation needed ]

Taiwanese sassafras, Taiwan, is treated by some botanists in a distinct genus as Yushunia randaiensis (Hayata) Kamikoti, though this is not supported by recent genetic evidence, which shows Sassafras to be monophyletic. [4] [13]

North America

Fossil Sassafras hesperia leaf from Early Ypresian, Klondike Mountain Formation, Washington, USA Sassafras hesperia 01.jpg
Fossil Sassafras hesperia leaf from Early Ypresian, Klondike Mountain Formation, Washington, USA

East Asia

Distribution and habitat

Many Lauraceae are aromatic, evergreen trees or shrubs adapted to high rainfall and humidity, but the genus Sassafras is deciduous. Deciduous sassafras trees lose all of their leaves for part of the year, depending on variations in rainfall. [15] In deciduous tropical Lauraceae, leaf loss coincides with the dry season in tropical, subtropical and arid regions.

Sassafras is commonly found in open woods, along fences, or in fields. It grows well in moist, well-drained, or sandy loam soils and tolerates a variety of soil types, attaining a maximum in southern and wetter areas of distribution. [16]

Sassafras albidum ranges from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas, in North America. S. tzumu may be found in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang, China. [17] S. randaiense is native to Taiwan. [18]

Ecology

S. albidum is a host plant for the spicebush swallowtail. AbbotV1Tab02A.jpg
S. albidum is a host plant for the spicebush swallowtail.

The leaves, bark, twigs, stems, and fruits are eaten by birds and mammals in small quantities. For most animals, sassafras is not consumed in large enough quantities to be important, although it is an important deer food in some areas. Carey and Gill rate its value to wildlife as fair, their lowest rating. Sassafras leaves and twigs are consumed by white-tailed deer and porcupines. Other sassafras leaf browsers include groundhogs, marsh rabbits, and American black bears. Rabbits eat sassafras bark in winter. American beavers will cut sassafras stems. Sassafras fruits are eaten by many species of birds, including bobwhite quail, eastern kingbirds, great crested flycatchers, phoebes, wild turkeys, gray catbirds, northern flickers, pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, thrushes, vireos, and northern mockingbirds. Some small mammals also consume sassafras fruits. [20]

Toxicity

Sassafras oil contains safrole, which may have a carcinogenic effect. [21] [22]

Uses

All parts of sassafras plants, including roots, stems, twig leaves, bark, flowers, and fruit, have been used for culinary, medicinal, and aromatic purposes, both in areas where they are endemic and in areas where they were imported, such as Europe. The wood of sassafras trees has been used as a material for building ships and furniture in China, Europe, and the United States, and sassafras played an important role in the history of the European colonization of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. Sassafras twigs have been used as toothbrushes and fire starters. [16]

Culinary

Sassafras albidum is an important ingredient in some distinct foods of the US. It is the main ingredient in traditional root beer and sassafras root tea, and ground leaves of sassafras are a distinctive additive in Louisiana Creole cuisine. It is used in filé powder, a common thickening and flavoring agent in gumbo. Methods of cooking with sassafras combine this ingredient native to America with traditional North American, as well as European, culinary techniques, to create a unique blend of Creole cuisine, and are thought by some to be heavily influenced by a blend of cultures. [23] Sassafras is no longer used in commercially produced root beer since sassafras oil was banned for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1960 due to health concerns about the carcinogenicity of safrole, a major constituent of sassafras oil, in animal studies. [21] [22]

Sassafras leaves and flowers have also been used in salads, and to flavor fats or cure meats. [24] [25] The young twigs can also be eaten fresh or dried. Additionally, the subterranean portion of the plant can be peeled, dried and boiled to make tea. [26]

Traditional medicine

Numerous Native American tribes used the leaves of sassafras to treat wounds by rubbing the leaves directly into a wound and used different parts of the plant for many medicinal purposes such as treating acne, urinary disorders, and sicknesses that increased body temperature, such as high fevers. [27] East Asian types of sassafras such as S. tzumu (chu mu) and S. randaiense (chu shu) are used in Chinese medicine to treat rheumatism and trauma. [28] Some modern researchers conclude that the oil, roots and bark of sassafras have analgesic and antiseptic properties. Different parts of the sassafras plant (including the leaves and stems, the bark, and the roots) have been used to treat scurvy, skin sores, kidney problems, toothaches, rheumatism, swelling, menstrual disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, bronchitis, hypertension, and dysentery. It is also used as a fungicide, dentifrice, rubefacient, diaphoretic, perfume, carminative and sudorific. [29] Before the twentieth century, Sassafras enjoyed a great reputation in the medical literature, but became valued for its power to improve the flavor of other medicines. [30]

Sassafras root was an early export from North America, as early as 1609. [31]

Sassafras wood and oil were both used in dentistry. Early toothbrushes were crafted from sassafras twigs or wood because of its aromatic properties. [16] Sassafras was also used as an early dental anesthetic and disinfectant. [32] [33]

Wood

Sassafras albidum is often grown as an ornamental tree for its unusual leaves and aromatic scent. Outside of its native area, it is occasionally cultivated in Europe and elsewhere. [34] The durable and beautiful wood of sassafras plants has been used in shipbuilding and furniture-making in North America, in Asia, and in Europe (once Europeans were introduced to the plant). [35] Sassafras wood was also used by Native Americans in the southeastern United States as a fire-starter because of the flammability of its natural oils found within the wood and the leaves. [36]

Oil and aroma

Steam distillation of dried root bark produces an essential oil which has a high safrole content, as well as significant amounts of varying other chemicals such as camphor, eugenol (including 5-methoxyeugenol), asarone, and various sesquiterpenes. Many other trees contain similarly high percentages and their extracted oils are sometimes referred to as sassafras oil, [37] which once was extensively used as a fragrance in perfumes and soaps, food and for aromatherapy. Safrole is a precursor for the clandestine manufacture of the drugs MDA and MDMA, and as such, sales and import of sassafras oil (as a safrole-containing mixture of above-threshold concentration) are heavily restricted in the US. [38]

Sassafras oil has also been used as a natural insect or pest deterrent, and in liqueurs (such as the opium-based Godfrey's Cordial), and in homemade liquor to mask strong or unpleasant smells. [16] [24] Sassafras oil has also been added to soap and other toiletries. [32] It is banned in the United States for use in commercially mass-produced foods and drugs by the FDA as a potential carcinogen. [21]

Commercial use

For a more detailed description of uses by indigenous peoples of North America, and a history of the commercial use of Sassafras albidum by Europeans in the United States in the 16th and 17th centuries, see the article on the extant North American species of sassafras, Sassafras albidum .

In modern times, the sassafras plant has been grown and harvested for the extraction of sassafras oil. It is used in a variety of commercial products or their syntheses, such as the insecticide synergistic compound piperonyl butoxide. [39] These plants are primarily harvested for commercial purposes in Asia and Brazil. [40]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Root beer</span> North American carbonated beverage

Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree Sassafras albidum or the vine of Smilax ornata as the primary flavor. Root beer is typically, but not exclusively, non-alcoholic, caffeine-free, sweet, and carbonated. Like cola, it usually has a thick and foamy head. A common use is to add vanilla ice cream to make a root beer float.

<i>Viburnum lentago</i> Species of flowering plant

Viburnum lentago, the nannyberry, sheepberry, or sweet viburnum, is a species of Viburnum native to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safrole</span> Chemical compound

Safrole is an organic compound with the formula CH2O2C6H3CH2CH=CH2. It is a colorless oily liquid, although impure samples can appear yellow. A member of the phenylpropanoid family of natural products, it is found in sassafras plants, among others. Small amounts are found in a wide variety of plants, where it functions as a natural antifeedant. Ocotea pretiosa, which grows in Brazil, and Sassafras albidum, which grows in eastern North America, are the main natural sources of safrole. It has a characteristic "sweet-shop" aroma.

<i>Juniperus virginiana</i> Species of conifer tree

Juniperus virginiana, also known as eastern redcedar, red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei. It is not to be confused with Thuja occidentalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filé powder</span> Spicy herb in Louisiana Creole cuisine

Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, is a spicy herb seasoning made from the dried and ground leaves of the North American sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum).

<i>Ocotea</i> Genus of trees

Ocotea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves.

<i>Lindera benzoin</i> Species of shrub

Lindera benzoin is a shrub in the laurel family. It is native to eastern North America, ranging from Maine and New York to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas, and northern Florida in the center and south. Within its native range it is a relatively common plant where it grows in the understory in moist, rich woods, especially those with exposed limestone.

<i>Lindera</i> Genus of flowering plants

Lindera is a genus of about 80–100 species of flowering plants in the family Lauraceae, mostly native to eastern Asia but with three species in eastern North America. The species are shrubs and small trees; common names include spicewood, spicebush, and Benjamin bush.

<i>Cinnamomum burmanni</i> Species of flowering plant

Cinnamomum burmanni, also known as Indonesian cinnamon, Padang cassia, Batavia cassia, or korintje, is one of several plants in the genus Cinnamomum whose bark is sold as the spice cinnamon. It is an evergreen tree native to southeast Asia.

<i>Sassafras albidum</i> Species of plant

Sassafras albidum is a species of Sassafras native to eastern North America, from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas. It occurs throughout the eastern deciduous forest habitat type, at altitudes of up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level. It formerly also occurred in southern Wisconsin, but is extirpated there as a native tree.

<i>Sassafras randaiense</i> Species of tree

Sassafras randaiense is a species of deciduous tree in the family Lauraceae belonging to the genus Sassafras. It is a relict species endemic to Taiwan. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnoliids</span> Clade of flowering plants

Magnoliids, Magnoliidae or Magnolianae are a clade of flowering plants. With more than 10,000 species, including magnolias, nutmeg, bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, black pepper, tulip tree and many others, it is the third-largest group of angiosperms after the eudicots and monocots. The group is characterized by trimerous flowers, pollen with one pore, and usually branching-veined leaves.

<i>Doryphora sassafras</i> Species of tree

Doryphora sassafras, commonly known as sassafras, yellow sassafras, golden deal or golden sassafras, is a species of flowering plant in the Southern Sassafras Family Atherospermataceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub to tree with elliptic or egg-shaped leaves and contrasting white flowers which occur in autumn and winter.

<i>Cinnamomum oliveri</i> Species of tree

Cinnamomum oliveri is a rainforest tree growing in the eastern coastal region of Australia. It occurs from the Illawarra district in New South Wales to Cape York Peninsula at the northern tip of Queensland. The southernmost limit of its natural distribution is on the volcanic cliffs above the town of Gerroa and nearby on sand in rainforest behind Seven Mile Beach, New South Wales. It is a medium to large tree reaching around 30 metres tall and 75 cm in diameter.

<i>Camphora parthenoxylon</i> Species of tree

Camphora parthenoxylon is an evergreen tree in the genus Camphora, 10–20 m (33–66 ft) tall. It is native to South and East Asia.

<i>Sassafras hesperia</i> Extinct species of flowering plant

Sassafras hesperia is an extinct species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae.

<i>Cinnamomum verum</i> Species of tree

Cinnamomum verum is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka. The inner bark of the tree is historically regarded as the spice cinnamon, though this term was later generalized to include C. cassia as well.

<i>Cinnamomum mercadoi</i> Species of tree

Cinnamomum mercadoi (kalingag) is a small tree, about 6 to 10 metres high, with a thick, aromatic bark. The plant part of the family Lauraceae, which contains about 45 genera and 2000-2500 species, and is related to the culinary cinnamon, sassafras, and bay tree. The plant is indigenous to the Philippines, where it grows best in forests at low and medium altitudes that sometimes ascend to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). C. mercadoi is unusual in the cinnamon family in that its essential oil consists large amounts of safrol, whereas other oils of cinnamon contain cinnamaldehyde. It is currently listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as "vulnerable" due to the overharvesting and the continuous loss of the Philippine forests.

<i>Sassafras tzumu</i> Species of tree

Sassafras tzumu is a species of Sassafras native to China, in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Zhejiang. It grows in either sparse or dense forests habitat types, at altitudes of 100–1900 meters.

References

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