Where are the 'moon trees' located?

July 7, 2004 7:18 AM

'Moon trees' were trees grown from seeds that orbited the moon onboard Apollo 14. Two trees were given to each US state to honor the bicentennial festivities in 1976 but no list of locations was kept. Now a NASA scientist is trying to track them down. I'd like to find one in Rhode Island but he's missing quite a few. Anyone know of one not on his list?
posted by jwells to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

First off, I don't know. I emailed my forestry department in Vermont to see. Second, this would make a pretty cool MetaFilter post, if you were so inclined. There are a lot of weird articles about Moon Trees out there.
posted by jessamyn at 7:39 AM on July 7, 2004

Response by poster: I thought of posting it to the blue but figured it'd been posted already. A search just now shows its already been double posted actually :-) Back in 2002 though. Maybe I'll email Matt and see what he thinks. I was just hoping the AskMeFi crowd might know of some. Thanks for emailing the forestry dept in VT... I hadn't thought of that one. I emailed a few historical societies in RI but haven't got a response from any yet. I think I'm in danger of developing "moon tree hunting" as a new hobby.
posted by jwells at 8:46 AM on July 7, 2004

I also think this is a fine topic for the blue. Just be certain to own the fact that it is a repeat front page post.
posted by geekyguy at 9:00 AM on July 7, 2004

Note from your link: These trees were southern and western species, so not all states received trees.

Some Googling turned up this article from Hurley, N.Y. about a recent moon tree donation.
posted by jazon at 10:04 AM on July 7, 2004

Since it's been over a year, I think a post in the blue would be fine. For best results, a) add something that wasn't in the previous posts/threads, and b) note the previous posts, either in your post, or in a [more inside] comment.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:26 AM on July 7, 2004

Wow, where are the Minnesota moon trees? I wonder if all state capitols were given some--I see that the Washington State capitol has one. Very cool concept, thanks!
posted by GaelFC at 10:26 AM on July 7, 2004

This is *way* cool, and definitely repeat-front-page-post-worthy.
posted by WolfDaddy at 11:14 AM on July 7, 2004

Is it just me dreaming about sending in an insurance claim stating that you drove into a Moon Tree? ;)
posted by twine42 at 11:52 AM on July 7, 2004

more on Moon trees

Heck, Jason, we're building your FPP for you right now!
posted by jazon at 12:00 PM on July 7, 2004

From jazon's link, here's a list of moon trees:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html
posted by rdr at 8:16 PM on July 7, 2004

Which of course repeats what you posted. Opps, got to get my brain out of hibernation.
posted by rdr at 8:17 PM on July 7, 2004