sassafras

noun

1. an American tree, Sassafras albidum, of the laurel family, having egg-shaped leaves and long clusters of greenish-yellow flowers.
2. the aromatic bark of its root, used medicinally and especially for flavoring beverages, confectionery, etc.

noun

1. an aromatic deciduous lauraceous tree, Sassafras albidum, of North America, having three-lobed leaves and dark blue fruits
2. the aromatic dried root bark of this tree, used as a flavouring, and yielding sassafras oil
3. Australian any of several unrelated trees having a similar fragrant bark

n.small flowering tree of North America, 1570s, from Spanish sasafras, perhaps an adaptation of saxifraga “saxifrage,” from Late Latin saxifragia, variant of saxifraga (see saxifrage). But the connection of the plants is difficult to explain, and the word perhaps represents a lost Native American name that sounded like Spanish saxifraga and was altered to conform to it. The tree supposedly was discovered by the Spanish in 1528.