The Moon Tree

When Apollo 14 orbited the moon in 1971, it carried the seeds for 450 trees. The saplings that came from those seeds were given out as part of the bicentennial celebration. No systematic records were kept of the disposition of those trees. Some were placed as far afield as a sycamore in Plano, Texas; another sycamore in Wyoming, Michigan; and a redwood in Berkley, California.

It happened that the offshoot of one of those trees escaped its carefully manicured grabe and ended up in a forest just a short distance away as the crow flies. While the original was accidentally cut down in a landscaping accident, it's offspring lives on.

There is a carving in the bark of this half-moon sycamore tree; a curious shape that few people would recognize.