RADIX SASSAFRAS. 



5:i 



i 



RADIX SASSAFRAS. 



Sassafras Root ; F. Bois de Sa8saf)'as, Lignum Sassrffra.9 ; 



G. Sassafrasholz. 



[fras offiGinaUs Nees {Lawnis Sassufi 



Botanical Origin 



a tree growing in North America, from Canada, southward to Florida and 

 Missouri. In the north it is only a shrub, or a small tree 20 to 30 foot 



high, but in the Middle and Southern United States, and especially iti 

 Virginia and Carolina, it attains a height of 40 to 100 feet. The leaves 

 are of different forms, some being ovate and entire, and others two- or 

 three-lobed, the former, it is said, appearing earlier than the latter. 



History— Mouardes relates that the French during their expedition 

 to Florida (1562-1564) cured their sick with the wood and root of a tree 

 called Sassafras, the use of which they had learnt from the Indians.^ 

 Laudonniere, who was a member of that expedition, and diligently set 

 forth the wonders of Florida, observes that, among forest trees, the mobt 

 remarkable for its timber and especially for its fragrant bark, is that 

 called by the savages Favame and by the French Sassafms.^ 



The drug was known in Germany, at least since 1582, under the 

 above names or also by that of Lignum Floridum or Fennel-wood, 



Xylomarathrwm.^ 



The sassafras tree had been introduced into England in tlie time of 

 Gerarde {circa 1597), who speaks of a specimen growing at Bo\y. At 

 that period the wood and bark of the root were used chiefly m the 



treatment of ague. , 



In 1610, a paper of instructions from the Government of England to 

 that of the new colony of Virginia, mentions among commodities to be 

 sent home, " Small sassafras Mootes," which are " to be drawcn in the 

 winter and dryed and none to be medled with in the somer ;--antl yet 

 is worthe £50 and better per tonne."^ The shipments were afterwards 

 much overdone, for in 1622 complaint is made that other things than 



Angelus 



'/ 



Germany about the 



^^^g.x... Sala, an Italian chemist living in 

 year 1610-1630, in distilling sassafras noticed that tlie oil was heayer 

 than water ;« it was quoted in 1683 in the J^^f «^, V^^^J'^'r 



carv nf +1.^ ^i^^+^„ „f c..„^^,. .,f Drpsrlfin/ John Maud m l/^» OD- 



in 1844 they were 



cary of the elector of Saxon}^ at Dresden.' ^ 

 tained crystals of safrol as long as 4 inches; 

 examined by Saint-Evre. 



Description-Sassafras is imported in large branching logs, ■v^dllch 

 often include the lower portion of the stem, 6 to 12 inches in diameter. 



6 Opera viedko-chymka, Fraiicofurti, 

 ^^7 Flackiger, Documentc (quoted at p. 404, 

 ^'"l^r/dL^Vaiis. E. Soc. of London, viii. 



^^^« Tlitassafraa logs m.i with in English 

 trade often include aconmderable pnrt>on of 

 triak-wood, which, as well as the bark that 

 covers it, is inert, and should he sawn off 

 and rejected before the wood is rasped. 



^ H'mtorin medicinal de las corns que se 

 trmn de nue^trus Indian occidentules, (Sevilla, 

 15/4)51. 



^De Laet, Kovus Orbl% 1033. 215.— 

 l-^ent? de Laudonniere, I/istoire notable de la 

 ^coride. 158G. 



l^>"')-m. Jourii. V, (18715) 1023. 

 ., Coloinnl Papers, vol. i. No. 23 (MS. in 

 the Record Office, London }. 



" toloniul Papers, vol. ii. No. 4. 



