Sassafras

This tree is native from eastern part of the North American Continent. The essential oil is mainly produced by USA (Florida), Canada and Mexico.

Sassafras belongs to the Laureaceae family and it scientific name is Sassafras albidum.

The tree is up to 40 meters high with many slender branches, a soft and spongy orange-brown bark and small yellow-green flowers. The bark and the wood are very aromatic. The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation from the dried root bark chips. It is a yellow-brown, oily liquid with a fresh, sweet spicy, woody-camphoraceous odour. The main constituents of sassafras essential oil are safrole (80-90%), pinenes, phellandrenes, asarone, camphor, thujone, myristicin and menthone.

This essential oil is highly toxic; ingestion of even small amounts could cause death. It is a strong carcinogenic, irritant and abortfacient agent. So, sassafras oil and crude are banned from food use; safrole free extract is used to a limited extent in flavouring work. Safrole is used as a starting material for the fragrance item 'heliotropin'.