With its bright and vibrant colors, the Tree of 40 Fruits looks like something out of a Science Fiction movie on a distant planet. But it turns out; this remarkable looking tree grows right here on our humble little blue ball. What’s more, not only are its leaves one of the most gorgeous displays nature can provide, it actually lives up to its name, producing 40 different varieties of stone fruits every season.
So how does this awesome little tree accomplish this?
Science of course!
And a little help from an artist slash boyhood farm-boy, Sam Van Aken.
Today at To Infinity and…In Theory we’re going to talk about the tree of 40 fruits, the different fruits it produces, and where you can go to see them. We’re also going to talk about “genetically modifying” nature to be a little more productive and examples of it that are already around us every day. We’ll also explore some of Sam’s other masterpieces from other exhibits.
But first, let’s talk about this tree…
I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts…And Plums…And Almonds…And Peaches…
Okay, okay, so the tree can’t produce coconuts. But as we mentioned before it cangrow 40 varieties of stone fruits. What are stone fruits? Things like peaches, nectarines, plums, and cherries are stone fruits. Stone fruits are classified by their seed pouches, in the case of the aforementioned fruits, a “pit”. This pit resembles a rock, hence the name “Stone Fruit.”
So other than plums and cherries what else can this tree do? How about peaches, apricots, almonds, and many rare and exotic species? The specimens were acquired from the New York Agricultural Experiment Station by Van Aken for his grafting art project. The orchard there was about to be torn out and Sam was able to purchase the lease in time to get access to the plants and begin his Frankenstein Fruit Tree project.
In an interview with the website “Epicurious”, the author of the article asks Sam Van Aken, “What is the Tree of 40 Fruit and what inspired the project?” Van Aken’s response is as follows:
“At the time this project began I was doing a series of radio hoaxes where I hijacked commercial radio station frequencies and played my own commercials and songs. In addition to becoming acquainted with FCC regulations I also discovered that the term "hoax" comes from "hocus pocus," which in turn comes from the Latin "hoc est enim corpus miem," meaning "this is my body" and it's what the Catholic priest says over the bread during [the] Eucharist, transforming it into the body of Christ. This process is known as transubstantiation and [it] led me to wonder how I could transubstantiate a thing. How could the appearance of a thing remain the same while the reality changed? And so, I transubstantiated a fruit tree. Through the majority of the year it is a normal-looking fruit tree until spring when it blossoms in different tones [of] pink, white, and crimson, and late in summer it bears [more than] 40 different types of fruit”. To read the full interview click here.
So there you have it. He transubstantiated a tree. Except there is one problem with that…the literal translation of Transubstantiation is “the changing of one substance into another.” In his reference to the church he uses the “bread is my body” as his citation. While I don’t want to undermine the brilliance of what Mr. Van Aken has accomplished, I also don’t want to mislead people into believing he turned the tree itself into 40 kinds of fruit, that would be an example of transubstantiation, and as far as metaphors to describe the art aspect go it’s absolutely brilliant, but this is an example of something else altogether.
Genetically Modified Organisms!
Oh Sure…GMO’s Aren’t Scary When They’re Pretty…
Ha! Ha! Okay, I was totally kidding. But some of you probably thought I was serious for a second. This is exactly why I feel it’s important to clarify the very distinct differences between a genetically modified organism and the tree that Van Aken has created.
Your standard GMO has been changed all the way down to its core cellular structure. Every organism is comprised of sequential information. It’s called DNA. Our human DNA tells our unborn child what color his or her hair will be, whether or not they will be tall or short, freckles or moles, etc. These are called traits.
In a genetically modified organism the genetic code has been altered in some way, creating a set of predetermined traits based on whatever it is the researcher is trying to accomplish. These genetic traits stay with the organism and are passed down to future generations, be it through breeding in animals or seeds in the case of plants. In a GMO, its altered traits become hereditary.
On the contrary, in what Sam Van Aken has done there is no change to the plants genetic structure of a hereditary nature. If you plant a cherry pit properly, you’ll get a cherry tree. If you plant a plum, you’ll get a plum. From one single seed you will not be able to recreate the Tree of 40 Fruits. This is because it hasn’t been genetically modified, instead it has been grafted.
Where genetic modification is done in a laboratory with high-tech equipment used to alter genes on a molecular level, farmers and horticulturists alike have been using grafting for centuries to accomplish much the same task. One plant, typically called “The Rootstock”, is cut when it reaches a certain phase in its growth cycle to be spliced into what is known as “The Scion”.
The stock is usually bred for disease resistance and better growth. The Scion is used to convey the characteristics of the final fruit, be it Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peas, Olives, or other stalk and trunk based plants. If this were an example of GMO’s then the next season all the farmers would have to do is plant the seeds from the previous harvest. This isn’t how it works however, as grafting needs to be done the next season to achieve the same results.
It’s also important to remember that this procedure isn’t as simple as just cutting and taping two plants together. It’s a very delicate process in which the vascular structure of the two plants has to align perfectly in order for them to fuse into one. If this isn’t done correctly, both the rootstock and the scion will die. To see a a "whip-grafting" technique and how its employed on a mango tree check out the six minute video below.
From Mesopotamia to 19th Century Wine Bottles
That’s right. Those are ancient stone tablets, and yes, that’s writing. Imagine having to leave a note for your mom in Biblical times that you have to stay after school. Talk about a pain in the butt. In fact, keeping with the theme in which plant grafting was created, those are ancient Sumerian tablets which have the names of Mesopotamian leaders inscribed into them. Neat huh?
Except there’s a lot of debate within the scientific community over whether or not horticultural propagation originated there or not. Some would say that it began in 1800 B.C., others are willing to budge a bit to ancient Biblical and Hebrew texts vaguely referencing the technique dated between 1400 – 400 B.C.
The first verifiable proof of this technique in writing however goes to the followers of Hippocrates in 424 B.C.:
“Some trees however, grow from grafts implanted into other trees: they live independently on these, and the fruit which they bear is different from that of the tree on which they are grafted. This is how: first of all the produces buds, for initially it still contains nutriment from its parent tree, and only subsequently from the tree in which it was engrafted. Then, when it buds, it puts forth slender roots in the tree, and feeds initially on the moisture actually in the tree on which it is engrafted. Then in course of time it extends its roots directly into the earth, thorough the tree on which it was engrafted: thereafter it uses the moisture which it draws up from the ground.”
Grafting found its way to Greece, Persia, Rome, France, Italy, and the Middle East. Books were published, and techniques were formed. It was a tremendous success and a great way to improve the stability of the agricultural system. It survived the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and even Thomas Jefferson made note of performing grafting in his own personal garden journal in 1767.
So why is this so important to the farming industry? Just take a look at this guy:
That menacing opalescent nightmare above is called a Grape Phylloxera, and they are some nasty little critters. Don’t let their diminutive size fool you. In large numbers the capabilities of these insects can be devastatingly catastrophic. For example, they can take a vineyard that looks like this:
And turn it into this:
In 1864 France that’s exactly what happened. A Phylloxera infestation caused an epidemic that put a squeeze on the grapes industry and crushed the vineyards. How was this hurdle that nature threw at them overcome? By using asexual propagation (grafting) of course! By grafting insect resistant grape rootstock onto the standard fruit bearing scion, French farmers were able to save their crops eventually. While Phylloxera hasn’t been eradicated entirely, it has at least been curbed…for now.
So now we know the when, the how, the why, and the what. There are just two questions that remain. First and foremost being, what inspired Sam Van Aken’s interesting art project, as it clearly wasn’t spawned out of necessity for survival, and where can we see some of these amazing trees.
Painting Trees? Pfft! That’s so Bob Ross…
I am a lover of art. However I am also a lover of food. That does not make me a chef. I am neither cultured nor pretentious enough to critique the man’s artwork. That being said I can say I like it. I may not understand what he’s trying to accomplish (or the way he expects me to interpret his pieces) but I certainly know I found his pieces visually striking, unique, and difficult to not only conceptualize, but also to bring to “fruition” (pun intended).
With all that in mind I’m going to post pictures of Sam Van Aken’s artwork and the titles for each piece, however I will not offer up an interpretation. I will also leave a link at the end to his personal website if you want to view the backstory of each piece and what they represent.
(New Edens)
(Thumper)
(A Hole In The Sky)
(Tree of 40 Fruit)
(Oh My God)
(The Many Deaths of Willem Dafoe)
Sam Van Aken has others as well. To see a complete list of his works, pictures, and explanations for his macabre art style you can visit his website by clicking here. Now for our last question of the day. Where can we see these trees?
Franken-Tree on Display
You’ll have to do some digging, but the trees are all on display in various locations across the United States in museums and nurseries. Locations include Louisville, Kentucky; Colby College Museum Of Art Waterville, Maine; Pound Ridge, New York; Hotel Bentonville in Arkansas; San Jose Museum of Art in California; and a couple other locations. They bear fruit from July to October and the amounts are said to be manageable enough so as not to be overwhelm the consumer.
I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait until these trees are commercially available for people like you and me to toss them in our backyards. Not only are they beautiful, they’re economical as well.
I’ll take forty of ‘em.
- Ryan Sanders
Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you enjoyed the article today! As always, please share this around and spread the knowledge! If you want to know more about anything discussed above today feel free to follow the links below. Happy Learning!
- A History of Asexual Plant Propagation (grafting)
- Science Alert article on “The Tree of 40 Fruits”
- Wiki on plant grafting
- Sam Van Aken’s TEDx talk on his creation
