Sassafras
an American tree of the laurel family. It is akin to the red bay and benzoin bush. It grows in rich woods from Massachusetts to Kansas and south to the Gulf. Its spicy, aromatic bark is used as a medicine and is chewed by boys like slippery elm bark. An extract affords a favorite flavor for summer drinks. Sidney Lanier represents the sassafras and the persimmon combining to retake possession of old fields in the South.
I wander to the zigzag-cornered fence
Where sassafras, intrenched in brambles dense,
Contests with stolid vehemence
The march of culture, setting limb and thorn
As pikes against the army of the corn.
--Sidney Lanier, Corn.
Where sassafras, intrenched in brambles dense,
Contests with stolid vehemence
The march of culture, setting limb and thorn
As pikes against the army of the corn.
--Sidney Lanier, Corn.
Volume IV · Aiton’s Encyclopedia