By Pallavi Singhal
A few hours after sunset on Thursday, a jacaranda tree that has been missing for nearly nine months was returned to the University of Sydney's quadrangle.
It isn't exactly the same as the iconic tree that stood in the quadrangle for 88 years before collapsing in October last year, but it is as close as you can get.
Sydney University Grounds Manager Mark Moeller and ground staff with a jacaranda tree which was successfully cloned from the original tree in the main quadrangle.Credit: Wolter Peeters
The new tree is a genetically-identical clone of the original jacaranda, grown by grafting cuttings from the original plant to the root of another jacaranda tree.
"There's a little scar on the base of the tree, you can see it if you look carefully," the university's landscape and grounds manager Mark Moeller said. "But it's genetically-identical from the ground up."
The jacaranda in the main quadrangle at Sydney University was planted 88 years ago.. Credit: Anthony Johnson
Mr Moeller began the process of growing a new jacaranda three years ago when he realised the ageing tree was unlikely to live much longer.
"We identified the need to be growing some genetic stock given the significance of the tree not just in the university but in Sydney itself," Mr Moeller said.
The original jacaranda was planted by university academic and horticulturalist E. G. Waterhouse in 1928 and was put on the City of Sydney's Significant Tree Register in 2005.
Its loss resonated with current students and generations of alumni, who have flocked to the tree for graduation photos and passed on the popular folklore that any student who doesn't start studying before the first purple blooms appear is doomed to fail their exams.
The jacaranda tree at Sydney University collapsed nine months ago.Credit: Nicola Borton
But Mr Moeller's initial attempts to extract seeds from the original tree failed.
"It wasn't an easy process because the tree was in a mature stage and we couldn't get any seeds off it," Mr Moeller said.
"We probably wouldn't have put in this much time and effort had the tree not been as significant as it is": Mark Moeller.Credit: Wolter Peeters
So the university hired one of the country's foremost specialist growers to clone the tree.
"They came and took cuttings from the tree back to the central coast and I believe it took about two dozen attempts," Mr Moeller said.
"We probably wouldn't have put in this much time and effort had the tree not been as significant as it is."
The team has since produced four clones. Two are currently being kept as back-ups and one has been planted at the university's nursing school, which is next to the main campus.
Mr Moeller said the new tree is likely to grow even bigger than the 18-metre high original jacaranda and live for longer.
"They can grow up to 30 metres and it should live beyond a hundred years," he said. "It's very healthy stock."
The specialist growers drove the new jacaranda to Sydney from Lake Munmorah in a truck the night before its official unveiling on Friday.
They also brought along a flame tree, which has been planted in the quadrangle adjacent to the new jacaranda.
Mr Moeller said the flame tree was chosen because it is native to Australia's east coast and flowers at the same time as the jacaranda.
The entire process cost the university about $2000 and the difficulties in growing the new tree resemble Professor Waterhouse's own struggles in planting the original tree.
The jacaranda students are familiar with was the third to be planted in the quadrangle, after the first two trees did not survive. Many of the other jacarandas Professor Waterhouse planted throughout the university's grounds were ripped out.
Mr Moeller said there are currently about 40 jacarandas on campus, but said he was not sure how many, if any, are surviving Waterhouse trees.