{{Short description|Series of Van Aken trees}} {{Infobox artwork/wikidata|artist=Sam Van Aken}} A '''Tree of 40 Fruit''' is one of a series of [[fruit tree]]s created by the [[Syracuse University]] associate professor Sam Van Aken using the technique of [[grafting]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Buckley |first=Madeleine |date=24 April 2016 |title=Explore the SU campus through these 6 historic statues |url=http://dailyorange.com/2016/04/explore-the-su-campus-through-these-6-historic-statues/ |access-date=22 March 2021 |work=[[The Daily Orange]]}}</ref> Each tree produces forty types of [[stone fruit]], of the genus ''[[Prunus]]'', ripening sequentially from July to October in the United States.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite web |date=3 August 2014 |title=The Gift Of Graft: New York Artist's Tree To Grow 40 Kinds Of Fruit |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/03/337164041/the-gift-of-graft-new-york-artists-tree-to-grow-40-kinds-of-fruit |access-date=3 January 2015 |website=[[NPR]]}}</ref><ref name="ScienceAlert">{{Cite web |title=This tree produces 40 different types of fruit |url=http://www.sciencealert.com/news/20142107-25892.html |access-date=3 January 2015 |website=ScienceAlert}}</ref>
== Development == Sam Van Aken is an associate professor of sculpture at [[Syracuse University]].<ref name="Elliot">{{Cite web |last=Elliot |first=Danielle |date=19 November 2014 |title=Could a Tree of 40 Fruit Hold a Clue to Solving World Hunger? |url=http://www.notimpossiblenow.com/lives/could-a-tree-of-40-fruit-hold-a-clue-to-solving-world-hunger |access-date=24 April 2015 |website=Not Impossible}}</ref> He is a contemporary artist who works beyond traditional art making and develops new perspective art projects in communication, botany, and agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SAM VAN AKEN |url=http://vpa.syr.edu/faculty-staff/sam-van-aken |access-date=21 March 2019 |website=College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University}}</ref> Aken was a 2018 Artist-in-Residence at the [[McColl Center for Art + Innovation]] in Charlotte, NC.<ref name="20years">[https://mccollcenter.org/artists-in-residence/ 20 years of Artists-In-Residence] McColl Center</ref>
His family is [[Pennsylvania Dutch]], and he grew up on the family farm.<ref name="Elliot" /> [[File:Tree of 40 Fruit - tree 071 diagram.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artist's planning diagram of "Tree 71"]]
In 2008, while looking for specimens to create a multicolored blossom tree as an art project, Van Aken acquired the {{convert|3|acre|ha|adj=on}} orchard of the [[New York State Agricultural Experiment Station]], which was closing due to funding cuts.<ref name="NPR" /><ref name="ScienceAlert" /> He began to graft buds from some of the over 250 heritage varieties grown there, some unique, onto a stock tree.<ref name="ScienceAlert" /> Over the course of about five years the tree accumulated branches from forty different "donor" trees, each with a different fruit, including [[almond]], [[apricot]], [[cherry]], [[nectarine]], [[peach]] and [[plum]] varieties.<ref name="ScienceAlert" /> [[File:Tree of 40 Fruit - nursery - DSC 0302.jpg|thumb|A Tree of 40 Fruit fruiting in the artist's nursery]]
Each spring the tree's blossom is a mix of different shades of red, pink and white.<ref name="ScienceAlert" />
The tree of 40 fruits was originally conceived as an art project, and Sam Van Aken hoped that people would notice that the tree has different kinds of flower in spring and has different types of fruit in summer. However, the project also introduces the changes in agricultural practices over the centuries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harlan |first=Becky |title=What a 'Tree of 40 Fruit' Tells Us About Agricultural Evolution |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2015/07/31/what-a-tree-of-40-fruit-tells-us-about-agricultural-evolution/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321143752/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2015/07/31/what-a-tree-of-40-fruit-tells-us-about-agricultural-evolution/ |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |access-date=21 March 2019 |website=National Geographic}}</ref> {{clear left}}
== Distribution == [[File:Tree of 40 Fruit - 2011 plum harvest.jpg|thumb|The variety of fruit, harvested from one of the trees in one week, in August 2011]]
{{as of|2014}}, Van Aken had produced 16 Trees of 40 Fruit, installed in a variety of private and public locations, including community and university gardens, museums, and private collections.<ref name="ScienceAlert" /> Locations include [[Newton, Massachusetts]]; [[Pound Ridge, New York]]; [[Short Hills, New Jersey]]; [[Bentonville, Arkansas]]; and [[San Jose, California]].<ref name="Epicurious">{{Cite news |last=Salkeld |first=Lauren |title=The Tree of 40 Fruit Is Exactly as Awesome as It Sounds |url=http://www.epicurious.com/archive/chefsexperts/interviews/sam-van-aken-interview |access-date=25 April 2015 |work=Epicurious}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Official website|https://www.samvanaken.com/}} - includes photographs and map * [https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/03/337164041/the-gift-of-graft-new-york-artists-tree-to-grow-40-kinds-of-fruit The Gift Of Graft: New York Artist's Tree To Grow 40 Kinds Of Fruit] on ''[[Weekend Edition Sunday]]'', 3 August 2014 * {{YouTube|t9EuJ9QlikY|The tree of forty fruits}} - talk by Van Aken at TEDxManhattan in 2014 * {{YouTube|ik3l4U_17bI|This Crazy Tree Grows 40 Kinds of Fruit}} - [[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]], 21 July 2015 * {{YouTube|5kO6-PpgZ1M|Syracuse professor grows 40 different fruits on one tree}} - ''[[CBS News This Morning]]'', 23 August 2014
[[Category:Trees]] [[Category:Horticulture]] [[Category:Environmental art]] [[Category:Graft chimeras]]