SASSAFRAS 



(Sassafras Sassafras) 



THE French settlers in Florida were the first white men to give the 

 name sassafras to this tree, but the Indians called it by that name 

 long before. It was a tree which Indians were sure to name, because it 

 had an individuality which appealed to them. It is not known what 

 the real meaning of the word was, when the southern Indians used it. 

 After the French adopted the name in Florida, it passed to other colonies 

 and other languages, and has led to numerous disputes since. Many 

 have erroneously supposed that the name is of Latin origin. When the 

 English colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, the tree 

 was well known by that name, but it was pronounced so variously and 

 spelled in so many ways that it was often almost unrecognizable. It is 

 pronounced variously and spelled differently yet. It is called sassafras 

 in most regions, and hi others is saxifrax, sassafas, sassafac, sassafrac, 

 and saxifrax tree. 



Its range covers the territory from Massachusetts to Iowa and 

 Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas. Some of that range it has 

 occupied for vast periods of time, for sassafras leaves have been found 

 embedded in the Cretaceous formations of Long Island. Near the 

 northern limit of its range it is generally small, often of brush size; but 

 further south it becomes a tree which sometimes exceeds 100 feet in 

 height, and three or four in diameter. The best development of the 

 species is in Arkansas and Missouri. 



Sassafras belongs to the laurel family. Strangely enough, the two 

 trees which are usually supposed to be typical laurels namely, moun- 

 tain laurel (Kalmia latifolid) and great rhododendron, do not belong 

 to the laurel family, but the heath family. The laurel family to which 

 sassafras belongs includes many species in all parts of the world, some 

 are evergreen, others are not, but all characterized by the strong, 

 pungent odor of their wood or bark, and all having fruit with a single 

 seed like a plum or cherry. The camphor tree from the distillation of 

 whose wood commercial camphor (except synthetic camphor made 

 largely from turpentine) is derived, belongs to this family, as do certain 

 bay trees of the southern states. It was formerly supposed that 

 sassafras existed only in the eastern half of the United States; but a 

 species closely resembling ours, if not identical with it, has recently 

 been found in China. The California laurel (Umbellularia calif or nica) 

 is in the same family with sassafras. 



This tree has had a peculiar history. It was once supposed to 



