Grafting is a horticultural technique where tissues from one plant are inserted into those of another, making them join together as one. Artist and professor Sam Van Aken is using the technique of “chip grafting” to create a tree that bears 40 different types of stone fruit. He has named it the “Tree of 40 Fruit.”

Van Aken says the idea came from his fascination with grafting, and when he had seen it done as a child it was always within a fantastical context, such as in Dr. Seuss and Frankenstein.

In the video’s comment, the grafting process is described as involving “slicing a bit of a branch with a bud from a tree of one of the varieties and inserting it into a slit in a branch on the ‘working tree,’ then wrapping the wound with tape until it heals and the bud starts to grow into a new branch.”

The tree will blossom in the spring in hues of pink and purple and bear fruit in the summer, including those of peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines.

Van Aken has created a dozen of the trees, and they have been planted in sites such as museums around the United States. He believes these opportunities to be a way of spreading diversity, and sees the Tree of 40 Fruit as “an artwork, a research project and a form of conservation.”

A special tree with both profound meaning and visual beauty, we hope we’ll one day see the Tree of 40 Fruit planted all over the world.