In the mountains of Southern Appalachia
Men and women hunt for sang
Or wild American ginseng as some say
An aphrodisiac worth its weight in gold
A health enhancing and life prolonging root
But only after the plant matures.
If it's not five years old, it's not potent.
If it's not old enough, it's not marketable.
Which some ginseng hunters don't know
And some are digging up poison oak
Or hickory sprouts by mistake
And others are digging up everything
Like strip-miners in the forest
And that's why sang is going out
And getting harder to find.
Source: Bob Hayes and his son, James Thomas "Tommy" Hayes in "Wild Ginseng," Travels with Foxfire: Stories of People, Passions, and Practices from Southern Appalachia by Phil Hudgins and Jessica Phillips.