Southern Red Oak is Baylor's oldest landmark. Click to enlarge.
Students at Baylor School hope that a cloning project that is now underway will help preserve the heritage of the school's oldest landmark, a giant southern red oak that has stood well over a century on the banks of the Tennessee River.
The exact age of the tree is not known, but according to Baylor science instructor Bill Tatum, a recent measurement of the tree indicate that it is 18 feet, four inches in circumference; 107 feet tall; and has an average crown spread of 20 feet. These measurements were applied to a "champion tree" formula provided by the Tennessee Forestry Department and the tree should earn the distinction of being the largest red oak in Hamilton County and the second largest in the state.
Baylor officials say the tree has had crown gall for several years and it is slowly dying, but thanks to Tatum and his students, cloned copies will be produced from the tree that will contain an exact replica of the tree's genome.
Throughout the next couple of weeks Tatum's genetics class will place terminal and lateral buds from the tree in a special medium that stimulates growth. "We'll use a process known as micropropagation, which is the primary step in the cloning process. The cloning has to be done under precise and sterile conditions and we should have some results in about three months," said Tatum.
Tatum added that the tree stopped producing acorns about 15 years ago, but even if acorns were available germinating them would not result in the exact genetic replication that comes from cloning. Tatum said he has consulted with scientists from Texas A&M and the University of Edinburgh in preparing for the project.
Red oaks are moderate growers and Baylor officials have speculated that the tree was already large at the time of the Civil War. Archeological records provided by Alexander Archeological Consultants in Chattanooga note that the Federal Calvary Brigade were camped in the vicinity of the tree in October 1863 after the Battle of Chickamauga before the unit was called to follow Wheelers raiders through middle Tennessee.
A second regiment was also camped at the site in October 1863 to defend a potential Confederate advance across Williams Island. The records state that "...the location of the William's Island Ferry crossing has not been specified in the Civil War documents. However, we can reasonably conclude that it was located on the Baylor campus near the Big Oak."
Tatum and a group of experiential education students from Baylor conducted a two-year archaelogical dig beneath the tree during 1991 and 1992. A variety of Civil War era artifacts were unearthed, including shell casings, glass bottles, bridle ring, and a soapstone die.
"I can just imagine soldiers camped beneath the tree awaiting their next orders and rolling dice, playing games, doing whatever they could to keep their minds off of where they had already been, what they had seen, and where they were headed."
Tatum added that the tree must have some very advantageous genes because it has out lived almost every southern red oak in the state. "We hope to plant the cloned offspring at various places around campus so that the tree's genes can be perpetuated in other red oak trees by the natural reproductive process."
Maggie Horn and Bill Tatum from Baylor work on tree cloning project. Click to enlarge.