The sensational autumnal transition of Sassafras tzumu intensifies in mid November at Windcliff. Photo DJH
CH2O2C6H3CH2CH=CH2 is known as Safrole by those of us with lesser minds. It is a clear oil with a sweet, baked-good fragrance that has been distilled from the root bark of Sassafras albidum and used as a medicinal tea for centuries by Eastern Native American Tribes. In terms of phytochemistry, Safrole exists in all three Sassafras species (and a few other unrelated plants) as an antifeedent, i.e. a culinary buzz kill for all things hungry.
The only species to occur in Novus Mundus, Sassafras albidum in autumnal finery. Occurring naturally from southern Ontario to eastern Texas, its dried foliage, Gumbo File, was adopted by Cajun cuisine from the Choctaw Indians. (photo provided by Georgia Native Plant Society)
In 1912, a young German chemist working for then Little Pharma Merck was the first to use Safrole to synthesize methylenedioxymethamphetamine, surpassing in number of vowels and consonants the totality of cerebral neurons in the brains of our country’s leadership; including those elected and those simply self-annointed. Fifty years later, it was the Sixties ……dude…… and its abbreviation, MDMA, appeared suddenly on the streets of the Midwest while ever since lighting on fire Raves across the world. Ecstasy, as it came to be called, was immediately cited as a controlled substance by the DOT, NTP, DEP, IARC, NFPA and the EPA (this is true). Recently it was all blamed on DEI (this is probably true).
Five decades later, underground labs are still using safrole as the precursor to XTC, but its source has shifted 8,000 miles west of the deciduous forests of North America….. Meet Sassafras tzumu, aka Cha Mu, one in only a triad of species in the genus worldwide. Along with such well knowns as Bay Leaf, Avocado, Camphor, Cinnamon and Lindera, Sassafras is bundled taxonomically into the decidedly aromatic Laurel Family, the Lauraceae. Compared to Sassafras albidum and Sassafras randaiensis (Taiwan), Cha Mu is pure kryptonite in terms of quantity and purity of its essential, high test oils. Ornamentally, it offers multi-seasonal effects as well as bold textured foliage to the garden.
Oddly enough, Lindera obtusiloba, a doppelgänger for Sassafras in terms of foliage, and taxonomically closely related, grows with Sassafras tzumu cheek by jowl in NE Sichuan. This particular collection, DJHS 8093, possesses near-orbicular, three-lobed leaves that color to rich butterscotch in October. Photo DJH.
It was not until my fourth trip to China in 2003 that I first met in person the subject at hand in the extreme northeastern corner of Sichuan Province. In a clear example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, it then, everything, everywhere, all at once, seemed to appear at every turn in our subsequent travels over the years within China, growing under extraordinarily diverse habitats, from the rich and moist mountain jungles of Guizhou to the dryish pine lands in Hunan and Hubei.
“It was in late October of that year (…..cue in a wrinkled old man with a large lit Habanos in hand) when I first met this divine creature by chance on a mountain trail above the village of Tao Yuan”. While cloud-chasing, he continues, “Tao Yuan. The women. The dancing. The drugs. Always the drugs….truthfully, never the women.” In all seriousness, it was only by way of noticing its distinctive three lobed foliage vividly carpeting the trail upon which I walked that year that made me aware of its presence. Every limb of every tree above me was devoid of foliage. I did not even consider looking for seed.
Sassafras tzumu is the most consistent of the three species in possessing three lobed leaves, though all may exhibit foliage with none, one or two lobes. Photo DJH.
I had grown up near the northern most distribution of Sassafras albidum in Michigan, and this kiddo was entranced by its variably lobed foliage (right mitten, left mitten and mutant child mitten) that smelled, if crushed, of a well poured pint of root beer. I was quite comfortable in my identification on that day in 2003. It was the raison d’etre of my return to the same mountain 11 months later, September 2024, with traveling companions Scott McMahan, Ozzie Johnson and Dave Demers. As we had hoped, the branches of numerous 50-75′ tall specimens of Sassafras tzumu remained laden with fleshy drupes of glistening blue.
Scott McMahan, of the Atlanta Botanic Garden, gathering seed of Sassafras tzumu in NE Sichuan above the village of Tao Yuan in 2004. Photo DJH.
Though the seed we collected that year germinated extremely well in the spring of 2005, the resultant seedlings were highly susceptible to collapse, presumably from a root pathogen. Heronswood Nursery did manage to produce enough of this collection to offer, and three specimens were planted at Windcliff in 2005. (The only Sassafras tzumu at Heronswood, still alive and well, was purchased from Camellia Forest Nursery in North Carolina. It does not have provenance and is remarkably different in constitution from our Sichuan collection.)
To this day, Sassafras tzumu remains the earliest blossoming tree in our garden, with flowering commencing in late January and lasting through February. Although the individual flowers are small, held in lax, terminal racemes, they are collectively comely in effect and read remarkably well from a distance during a long-shadowed time of year with a rare blue sky as a backdrop.
DJHS 4230, now approximately 40′ tall at Windcliff, 2/18/25. A miserably bad photo by DJH.
Sassafras tzumu (and its Taiwanese counterpart, S. randaiensis )are monecious, with both male and female flowers on the same tree. The American species, Sassafras albidum, is dioecious, with separate male and female plants. Photograph taken 2/18/25, DJH.
If the conditions are right and the beehives alive, and because we have multiple clones, small crops of its fertile seed are regularly produced at Windcliff. These will easily germinate the following spring if given an adequate period of cold during the winter. As an aside, in putting the final touches on this post, I visited our specimens for another photo, and was grateful to experience for the first time a small flock of Bushtits in the upper reaches of our specimens flitting from flower to flower; whether they were supping nectar or simply eating insects attracted to its nectar, it was too distant to determine (they are known to be dietarily catholic). But then again, perhaps they were just trying to get high.
DJH 3/2/25
P.S. To Our Dear Friends to the North, the South and across the Oceans, ChatGPT, along with some work on my end, send to you
A Prayer for Forgiveness, A Prayer for Strength
In a land once filled with joy and light,
We lost our way in greed and might.
The soil we tilled, the gifts we shared,
Were cast aside by hearts that dared
To take, to hoard, to claim as own,
What once was meant for all to grow..
But deeper still, beyond our shame,
Are those we loved, yet turned to blame.
Our friends, our allies, hands once near,
Now drift afar in doubt and fear.
To them, we offer humbled cries—
For trust once shattered, drowned in lies.
Forgive us, you who stood so true,
When we betrayed the faith we knew.
Forgive the silence, cold and deep,
When you had wounds, we let you weep.
Forgive the hands that let you go,
When you sought strength, yet stood alone.
Forgive the harm, the lives betrayed,
The peace undone, the trust decayed.
May we relearn to stand as one,
To heal the wounds, to right the wrong.
Though darkness lingers, hope remains,
And through compassion, good sustains.
Amen.
