Blackwood Sap

While called sap by Homesteaders enough for the name to stick, Blackwood Sap is actually considered a tree resin, even though it is in fact edible. Either way, it smells, both sweet and nasty, like a mixture of honey and tar. And like both of those, the sap is known to attract Ursa Major specimen. This may be evolutionary, or simply a lesson learned by the bears. Essentially, damage implies something is gnawing on the trees, so then the bear knows there's prey to hunt. Plus they like the taste of the actual thing.   Blackwood trees have been primarily found in The Nightwood, not growing well in other environments. This may be due to the soil, actively requiring Ursa Major presence for protection, or any other number of reasons. Given the circumstances, it is low on the priority order of investigation. After all, growing a plant that attracts one of the biggest threats on Ymir is actively outlawed, as that is the only way to prevent anyone from being dumb enough to try. Honey is already a problem, but at least that can be contained. Trees are far harder to contain, so the Military Court became involved and banned its use and production.  

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  Blackwood Sap has, in fact, proven to be useful for the Science Department. It has been used to replace hard-to-obtain components of the Superserum and has done its job well there, playing an active part in producing an Ymir-specific version which has proven to be far more effective. It has boosted both toxic resistance and healing rates, making it extremely useful and research into growing Blackwood trees of great import. For now, other obtainment methods suffice, even if risky.