Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Bark, Cut and Sifted, Wild Harvested

USA. Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Bark, Cut and Sifted, Wild Harvested Common names: Saxifrax, Knutze, Saloop, Ague Tree, Cinnamon Wood, Fennel Wood, Smelling-Stick, Winauk, Pauane, Kombu Family: LauraceaeSassafras is a deciduous tree, found in eastern North America, from southern Canada to northern Florida, and westward to east Texas and Iowa. It can reach heights of 10 to 50 and even occasionally 100 or more feet, with larger trees growing in warmer southern locations. It flourishes in open woods, along fences, or in fields, and favors moist, sandy soils. The history of Sassafras is remarkable. According to legend, Columbus found North America because he could smell the scent of Sassafras trees. During the first 200 years of European settlement, Sassafras was a significant export from the “New World,” just behind tobacco for a period in the early 1600s. Promoted especially as a cure for syphilis and malaria, harvesting reached the point of depleting what had earlier been a very abun