Herb library · Herb · Sassafras albidum
Sassafras
A North American tree whose aromatic root bark was a spring tonic and flavoring. The main compound in its oil is safrole, which caused liver cancer in rodents, and the FDA prohibits safrole in food. Only safrole-free sassafras extracts may be used as flavorings.
Serious warning
The FDA lists safrole, the main component of sassafras oil, as prohibited in food, and allows sassafras only as safrole-free extracts. In animal studies safrole caused liver cancer.
Traditional use
Native to eastern North America. It was one of the main remedies of Native Americans and reached Europe in the late 1500s. In 19th-century American medicine the root bark and its oil were used as a warming stimulant and 'alterative' for rheumatism and skin eruptions, and the leaves, flowers and twigs were drunk as a spring tonic.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Hot and dry in the second degree. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 229 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Insufficient
No clinical trials of sassafras exist. What is known in people comes from case reports of side effects, such as heavy sweating in a patient who began drinking sassafras tea and symptoms after swallowing sassafras oil.
Be careful of
Cautions
- NoteSassafras root bark, tea and oil contain safrole unless the product is made safrole-free. Safrole caused liver tumors in rodent studies, and the FDA lists it as prohibited in food.
- AmountSafrole is the main compound in sassafras oil, and swallowing the oil has caused symptomatic poisoning. Keep it away from children.
- NoteDrinking sassafras tea has been reported to cause heavy sweating.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“Sassafras was one of the chief remedies used by the American Indians, and the wood became known in Europe under the name Lignum pavanum, or Lignum Floridum, about the year 1582.”
Sources
- Substances Added to Food (formerly EAFUS): search results for safrole and sassafras (opens in a new tab) · FDA · read September 25, 2026
- Structure-activity studies of the carcinogenicities in the mouse and rat of some naturally occurring and synthetic alkenylbenzene derivatives related to safrole and estragole (Cancer Res, 1983) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Forensic profiling of sassafras oils based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (Forensic Sci Int, 2013) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Sassafras tea and diaphoresis (Postgrad Med, 1991) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Symptomatic sassafras oil ingestion (Vet Hum Toxicol, 1987) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.