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RE: 🥾 Trekking "God's Back Mountain" | Part 2 ⛰️ Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia 🎒

I really enjoyed learning about the "ecstasy wood" and more about the forest there. Until I watched the embedded video, I wondered if you were talking about the Sassafras tree, which is rather common in the southeastern US. But I see it's a tree called Mreah Prew, instead. The oil (safrole) is the same as in the Sassafras tree, though, and we use it here to make root beer, not ecstasy! As a child, I liked chewing on a Sassafras twig because of the flavor. 😋

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 2 years ago  

It is a sassafras tree, your instincts are right. I grew up on sassafras tea as kid, but one day my parents just stopped making it and using the roots. Several years ago I asked why and my mom told me that when it became public knowledge that our American sassafras tree contains carcinogens she stopped it then and there. Funny, seems it's quite common that sassafras species aren't exactly healthy for humans. I don't know if the oil from the one's here is carcinogenic, but a previous non-illicit use was as a perfume for the ladies.