Sassafras albidum aka Sassafras

Sassafras albidum, also known as sassafras, white sassafras, red sassafras, or silky sassafras, is a deciduous tree native to eastern and central United States. It can be found in woodlands, fields, thickets, and along roadsides, and prefers well-drained sandy acidic soils. The tree can grow up to 60 feet tall, and has attractive greenish-yellow flowers in clusters at the end of branches in the spring. Female trees produce a blue, fleshy drupe that is borne in a red cup attached to a red stalk. The leaves are variable in shape, with ovate, mitten-shaped, and three-lobed options, and are bright green above and glaucous below. The tree has excellent yellow, purple, and red fall color. Sassafras oils were once freely used in tonics as medical panaceas by Native Americans, and have been used in culinary applications such as sassafras tea (bark), root beer flavoring (root oil), and a gumbo-thickening agent called filé (stem pith). However, it has been determined that sassafras oils contain a carcinogenic substance (safrole), and many of the former uses for the oils are now banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The range of Sassafras albidum extends from southern Maine and southern Ontario west to Iowa, and south to central Florida and eastern Texas. It occurs throughout the eastern deciduous forest habitat type at altitudes of up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level. It formerly also occurred in southern Wisconsin but is extirpated there as a native tree. The plant is dioecious (separate male and female trees), and can spread by root suckers to form large colonies in the wild. All of the trees in a colony may rise from the same parent.