When I heard that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry had died, I immediately remembered the first time I’d met her, which sent me scurrying back to the autographs I’d gathered as a teen at my early conventions. What I found, which you can see at right (click to view at a larger size), showed that what I’d always thought occurred never did, that I hadn’t met her when I thought I had.

The image I’d always held in my mind was very specific. It was back at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in 1972, either at the first Star Trek convention or a Creation Con, and if I close my eyes I can even see the interior of the small room where I filled this page, which was off a corridor near the elevators. Yet when I found this sheet which was supposed to contain her signature, her name was nowhere to be seen.

Ah, fickle memory!

But as you can see, writers and future SFWA Grand Masters Hal Clement and Isaac Asimov were there (the tradition of a SFWA Grand Master hadn’t even begun as yet), along with Star Trek scripter D. C. Fontana and Desilu executive Oscar Katz. Of the four, Katz was probably the most important to Star Trek, for without him, the show might never have made it on the air in the first place.

As I look at Fontana’s inscription, I find that I’m not entirely sure what it means, Oh, I know all about “live long and prosper,” it’s in in my blood, but where does “and know what’s in the tree” come from? Is it a line from the original series I can no longer remember? Is it a quote from some other TV show, from a movie, or from literature, science fictional or otherwise?

Googling avails me nothing. Searching for “know what’s in the tree” yields a total of five results. Eliminating the apostrophe and searching for “know what is in the tree” yields only two. And all the results seem literal, rather than metaphorical.

Because the phrase is nearly internet invisible, I suspect that it’s not an allusion. But what is it? Am I missing something obvious?

Do you know what’s in the tree?

If so, let me know.