I discovered Sassafras and Mulberry bushes growing wild...

[PunkinPeep]

One of the benefits of mulberry is that birds love it and will usually gorge themselves and leave your berries, cherries, etc alone. They are messy, so you probably don't want them too close to your house, but they'd be great on the back 40. You can eat them too, although they are not really that popular as an edible.

I love sassafras..it is everywhere around here. I think it has pretty fall foliage. I love a cup of sassafras tea in the winter (harvest roots from late fall to early spring) and I love the smell of a pot of roots boiling on the stove. It is said to be carcinogenic in mass quantities, but this research was done by subjecting mice to highly concentrated doses over a long period of time. (Most things out of moderation can be toxic.) That's why they don't make rootbeer out of real sassafras root anymore. A cup of tea every so often is not going to hurt you though, and oldtimers believed it to be a "blood purifier" or liver tonic.

ETA: Oh, and

Thanks!

Most of the sassafras i have is small like the mulberries i mentioned above. Can i just pull them up to harvest the roots? How does that work? I'm excited to just smell them since several people have mentioned the good smell, but i'm not familiar with it.

 

[journey11]

You can dig just a few roots from each tree, or if you want to thin them out a little you could dig up a couple of the saplings entirely. They will make a large tree someday if they have the time and room to grow.

This is what you have right?
(summer)
(fall)

The root will have a sweet, rootbeer-like smell to it. It's pretty unmistakable...scratch and smell a green twig or chew on it--it smells the same.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Well, after doing a lot of reading, i went back outside with my eyes very mulberry and sassafras leaf/tree aware. The mulberries and the sassafras seem to grow in the same areas, but the sassafras are much more abundant. I found exactly one of each that were established enough to be taller than i am; most were saplings about waste high (i'm short, so my waist high).

I also made a life-altering discovery. The large sassafras tree that i found had a couple of twig-size branches that were dead and dried out. Initially, i just broke off one little twig and broke it to smell. What a fantastic aroma! I kept rebreaking it and sniffing it while i walked all around the yard. And then i had to go back to that tree and get some more. The live branches don't smell nearly as good. But now i know why it's called cinnamon wood. I have a small collection of the dead twigs simmering on the stove right now, hoping to fill my home with that wonderful flavor. My nose is dancing!

This is especially nice for me because i have a much impaired sense of smell. Many many aromas other people notice are ones i do not sense at all - and many others smell badly to me, like i'm missing some element of the odor. So this is really nice and exciting. My fingers smell like sassafras.

As to the mulberry, since there's only one of any size, i intend to leave it there and observe it in the coming year and see if it produces any berries. If it doesn't, i'm not sure i'll have any use for it.

Thanks all so much for your input!

 

[injunjoe]

I was also reading and a few sites suggest that sassafras as an alternative to the Paper Mulberry.

Here is a link telling about them in Texas.
http://www.texasinvasives.org/invasives_database/detail.php?symbol=BRPA4

Once this tree gets established it will send out runners just under the ground for 50 feet easily with trees popping up everywhere.

These are not the Mulberry others are thinking it is.

I do like the sound of Sassafras. I like how you describe the smell, it makes me want some!

Joe

 

[PunkinPeep]

I was also reading and a few sites suggest that sassafras as an alternative to the Paper Mulberry.

Here is a link telling about them in Texas.
http://www.texasinvasives.org/invasives_database/detail.php?symbol=BRPA4

Once this tree gets established it will send out runners just under the ground for 50 feet easily with trees popping up everywhere.

These are not the Mulberry others are thinking it is.

I do like the sound of Sassafras. I like how you describe the smell, it makes me want some!

Joe

Want me to send you some? I have lots! (of sassafras; i know you don't want me to send you any mulberry)

Well, it will be a while before i can get to the mulberry i saw. We are still dealing with fallen trees leftover from IKE, and i can't get to that tree yet. So i can observe it in the mean time.

Thanks for all the links! Very helpful!

 

[PunkinPeep]

You can dig just a few roots from each tree, or if you want to thin them out a little you could dig up a couple of the saplings entirely. They will make a large tree someday if they have the time and room to grow.

This is what you have right?
(summer)[url]http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/thumbs/6486_i820-0628057cs.jpg[/url]
(fall)[url]http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/thumbs/6486_i820-0901021.jpg[/url]

The root will have a sweet, rootbeer-like smell to it. It's pretty unmistakable...scratch and smell a green twig or chew on it--it smells the same.

I just saw your pictures.

Yes, that's what i have. Most of my plants have a little bit rounder leaves, but it's the same shape, and the smell is amazing! I haven't dared to chew any of it yet. still just sniffing.

I'm afraid we don't really have fall here in my neck of the woods; we just have lack-of-summer, followed by a possibility of lack-of-heat, followed by pre-summer. Very few of our trees' leaves ever change color, except from green to brown. I do have a few reddish dogwood leaves right now, and that is kind of nice. But it's rare.

 

[injunjoe]

No but thank you for offering.
Trees blown down! That would explain no bigger Mulberry trees around. They are shallow rooted so they most likely all got blown down.

I only push this info on you because I have been at war with these things for ever.

Joe

 

[PunkinPeep]

No but thank you for offering.
Trees blown down! That would explain no bigger Mulberry trees around. They are shallow rooted so they most likely all got blown down.

I only push this info on you because I have been at war with these things for ever.

Joe

You may be right...and also, while reading these links, etc., i have noticed that the more mature leaves ( i think ) on the mulberry can look a LOT like a dogwood leaf. Actually, i'm not sure i can tell them apart by looking at them. So there are some trees that i had assumed were dogwoods because of their leaves, but they never bloomed. I will have to go out tomorrow (it's dark now) and see if the ones that never bloomed have sappy leaves. They might be mulberry, and i just didn't know how to identify them. Is that right? Do your older mulberries have a less identifiable shape?

 

[injunjoe]

I don't remember anymore, I go in the woods behind my house with a ditch bank and chop them down as fast as they pop up!

Joe

 

[4grandbabies]

on my property. Should i be happy about that? I've heard they both have medicinal properties.

I'm a total gardening newbie, but I'm thinking about cultivating some - as they usually get mowed down like weeds.

Any and all advice is welcome! :tools

I live in central Missouri, and sassafras grows all over the place here. I grew up drinking it every spring, it was said to be a good blood thinner and purifier. I would definately limit the amount tho, as its true there are warnings about liver damage if used in large amounts, and if you happen to be on blood thinners such as coumidan, it would not be wise to drink it.