Asheville in Buncombe County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Sassafras

Sassafras Albidum

Photographed by Mark Parker, June 23, 2015

1. Sassafras Marker

Inscription.
Celebrate Sassafras! Native Americans have used this lovely, slender native tree for millennia. The brittle bark, which glistens with small crystals, makes an excellent tea and flavors sarsparilla (root beer). The very young spring leaves are dried and made into a powder to thicken soups and stews - the filé gumbo of Creole cooking. The aromatic wood once was used for bedsteads in the belief that its spicy fragrance would repel insects.

Spanish explorers brought the tree to Spain, because they believed it could cure syphilis and rheumatism. It's possible a 16th century Spanish botanist named the plant after the Spanish word for saxifrage, or "rock-crushing plant," a plant that grows in the cracks of rocks.

Sassafras has another engaging characteristic: It has four different leaf shapes on each 20 to 40 foot-tall tree! They're three-lobed, elliptical, and two-lobed "mittens" facing right and left. Can you identify them?

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Colonial Era • Exploration • Horticulture & Forestry • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

Location. 35° 29.773′ N,

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82° 36.414′ W. Marker is in Asheville, North Carolina, in Buncombe County. It is on Running Cedar Road 0.2 miles east of Frederick Law Olmsted Way, on the left when traveling east. The location of the marker is at the North Carolina Arboretum along the Carolina Mountain Trail. The trailhead is near parking for the Bonsai Exhibition Garden. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 100 Running Cedar Rd, Asheville NC 28806, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Mountains. It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the original Cherokee Nation,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: The

Sassafras near the marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, June 23, 2015

2. Sassafras near the marker

Quilt Garden (about 700 feet away, measured in a direct line); French Broad River (approx. ¾ mile away); Dr. L.B. McBrayer (approx. one mile away); Rutherford Trace (approx. 3.6 miles away); William Moore (approx. 3.8 miles away); Home Place of Capt. Wm. Moore (approx. 3.8 miles away); Landsman Riley Powers (approx. 3.9 miles away); Exploring Deer Park Trail (approx. 4.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Asheville.

Credits. This page was last revised on January 5, 2026. It was originally submitted on January 4, 2026, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 46 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 4, 2026, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.