How to grow Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

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How long does Sassafras take to grow?

These estimates for how long Sassafras takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.

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Sassafras Etymology

The name “sassafras,” applied by the botanist Nicolas Monardes in the 16th century, is said to be a corruption of the Spanish word for saxifrage.

albidum=white¹

Caterpillars of butterflies, such as the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, eat leaves of sassafras. Filé powder, also called gumbo filé, for its use in making gumbo, is a spicy herb made from the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree.¹

Sassafras oil has been determined, recently, to contain a carcinogenic substance (safrole) and many of the former uses for the oil are now banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.²

Other names for Sassafras

Common sassafras, ague tree, root beer tree

Sassafras albidum (Nutt.) Nees

Misspellings: Sassafrass Sasafras Sasafrass

Footnotes

¹ Latin Dictionary

² “Missouri Botanical Garden” entry on sassafras albidum:www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=i820