This sassafras leaf is from a tree that was felled in last month’s storm. In that time, its chloroplasts have died off, and now it looks very much like what a sassafras leaf would look like in the middle of October.
This leaf is a reminder that fall is not far away.
The cicadas have started to buzz, and the katydids are calling at night.
Summer is reaching its climax, and soon it will fall into the balmy days of September, then the frost, and then the snow.
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Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a very common tree around here.
It has three leaf shapes. There is this lobed shape, an oval shape, and a mitten shape.
At one time, the roots of the sassafras were used to make a nice country tonic.
Sassfras tea was commonly recommended as a blood thinner and as an antisceptic, and it has a very pleasant taste to it, something akin to root beer.
However, sassafras tea contains safrole, which the USDA considers a potential carcinogen.
So you can’t buy sassafras tea anymore.
But I must admit to having tasted it.
When I was a kid, my grandpa cut down a sassafras tree at the corner of his yard. The roots were boiled, and we all had some sassafras tea.
I guess trying it just once won’t hurt.
I still occasionally make Sassafras tea–and yes I know about the health warnings. Sassafras is also the source of “Filet Gumbo”–the source of so much tasty LA cuisine–and was indeed used as a natural flavor base for root beer. The wood was used as well as for making bed frames–thought to keep bedbugs away–and for chicken roosts to deter lice.
BTW, I notice that a lot of our trees here in MD–especially the flowering cherries–are losing their leaves early, presumably because of the extreme hot weather we’ve had. Any early leaf fall up where you are?
I haven’t noticed anything like that around here. June was really hot, as was the first part of July, but it’s now back to normal. It has been unusually dry but not extremely so.
Cicadas are buzzing here in southern Ontario too and my garden is seeing lot of leaves like massugu pointed out. It has been extremely hot and dry June and July. I think it is because of low levels of water and extreme heat that trees are getting rid of the leaves. My Kuvasz boy and I have given up hiking on the trails. We go out late at night now from 9 pm to 11 pm and stick to neighbourhood streets.
But I was thinking that fall may be delayed this year. My family wants to be on Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park this fall and we are not sure when to take vacations.
I think its gonna be up for grabs Suhail. I think the mountains are scraping a bit more rain out of the clouds but I don’t no how much. The trees have been leafing out earlier and earlier and this past winter was super mild w/ an early spring. That’s bound to have an effect on those species that are more responsive to temperature and humidity than to day length. You may want to contact the park officials and see what they’re predicting.
That is a good advice to contact park officials rather than wait for fall colours reports appearing on tourism related websites.