Scientist builds Franken-trees that grow forty types of fruit

If the “Tree of Forty Fruit” sounds like an idea out of a fantasy novel, the man who made it understands.

“When I’d seen it done as a child, it was Dr. Seuss and Frankenstein and just about everything fantastic,” said Sam Van Aken, a professor and artist at Syracuse University in New York, to National Geographic.

Van Aken grows a tree for about three years before he starts grafting branches of other kinds of trees onto its limbs. As those limb grafts heal and grow stronger, he’ll add more limbs.

In all, it has taken him about eight to nine years to grow each of the about a dozen multi-fruit trees. His tree of forty fruit grows all kinds of fruit, including peaches, plums, apricots, cherries and almonds.

He builds each tree with the colors and different seasonal timing of the blooms and fruits in mind and keeps a drawing of each branch. He considers it a work of art, which he hopes will surprise with its many colors and draw questions.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Scientist builds Franken-trees that grow forty types of fruit."