Celebrating the stories of campus trees

One of MSU’s most distinctive trees, the black walnut in Adams Field, features a large branch that swoops near the ground, resembling the lower half of a heart. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

A quintessential landmark of south campus, a tree painted with a Spartan “S” stands idyllically in a pasture near College and Jolly roads. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

Recognizable for its upward pointing branches is the Chinese Ash, or Hua Qu Liu, in the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden. The tree grew from seeds originating from Seoraksan, the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range in the Gangwon Province in eastern South Korea, collected in 1993 by Frank Telewski, former director of the garden. When the emerald ash borer was discovered in Detroit ravaging North American ash, leaves from the tree provided a native food source for the insects, helping MSU entomologist Deb McCullough study the invasive species. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

The Dawn Redwood, located in the Beal Botanical Garden, is an imposing presence. The tree was grown in the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, which collected seeds of the rare and ancient species from the Szechuan/Hubei region of China in 1943, shortly after the Dawn Redwood was discovered in 1941. MSU’s tree came to live on campus in 1954, where it became a member of the elite club of trees that have been struck by lightning and survived. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

White swamp oaks, planted by William J. Beal, have existed on campus longer than many of its buildings, including much of West Circle Drive. The trees were grown from acorns in 1874 near the current site of Mayo Hall, which was built in 1931. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

Though every tree on campus has a story to tell, the Resilient Oak's is one that spans nearly 400 years. Thought to be MSU’s oldest tree, the oak has continued to survive after much of its trunk and almost all its branches were destroyed during a storm in 2016. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

A smattering of ivy climbs the white oak in front of Van Hoosen Hall. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

Narrow pines reach toward the sky in the Pinetum near Munn Ice Arena. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.

To ensure that MSU has even more iconic trees in the future, MSU Landscape Services planted 150 saplings to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Beal Botanical Garden in 2023. Photo by Derrick L. Turner.