Believe it or not, this sticky stuff is useful for more than just ruining car paint. Native people used it as a natural glue for arrowheads and baskets. Some types of tree sap are the base for frankincense and myrrh, which were gifts for baby Jesus—so it’s basically holy boogers.
You can even collect it and use it as a fire starter. Dried sap catches fire like a magic trick. Just don’t use your shirt to wipe it off your hands first, or you’ll have a very sparkly, very flammable camping trip.
In the end, that sticky liquid oozing out of some trees is just nature’s way of being messy. It’s not perfect, it’s not polite, and it doesn’t care about your clean jeans. But it’s real. And sometimes, that’s all you can ask from a tree—or from yourself.
