Bliss

Defeat and rejection are some of the challenges of life to overcome. Only when we have experienced some of these disappointments then and only then can we truly appreciate when we succeed or our goal has been achieved or the lost love we have secretly kept hidden in our heart returns. People want that feeling in there lives but only certain moments in life usually do they get to experience that feeling. Drugs, illegal and legal, have been searched out through time to give us that feeling that we wish for so much when we cannot find that feeling through experiences or feelings on our own.

I have recently been moving my nursery to a new location and while overlooking the property we were out walking to see if we could discover any unusual plant features in the property. What we found were an unusual amount of Sassafras trees on the old fence line. Sassafras albidum is one of the oldest species of trees in the world according to the fossil record and is native to the eastern United States. It is unusual for other reasons as well. A single tree can have three distinct types of leaves on it. The tree is usually small but they tend to live for a very long, long, time. They have excellent fall color and can be anything from yellow to bright scarlet red. I have even saw two trees side by side with different color extremes on them. Native Americans and early settlers used the bark of the roots of the Sassafras to make a tonic. This tonic which gave root beer its claim to fame was rumored to be a cure all to what ails the body for that feeling of euphoria if you will, to lift the spirits. It was deemed as a stimulant for tired and weary souls as well as an herb to fight off any other illness. There is an old story that near the coast of the new world with Columbus's crew near mutiny the odor of Sassafras permeated the air and quietened down the crew and land was shortly sited. The national champion tree of the United States is in Owensboro, Kentucky and was saved from a road crew by a lady with a shotgun. The governor pardoned the tree and her. Besides used as a tonic or stimulant the ground and dried leaves of the Sassafras tree is the File in File Gumbo, used in it as seasoning and as a thickener.

While the Sassafras tree does not contain the fountain of youth or the key to happiness the tonic of will never replace the feeling of mutual love, the long awaited kiss, victory or achievement it is a beautiful and very interesting tree and has been on this earth a long, long, time.