“Champion”-rated trees live on the Clemson campus

During Earth Month, Clemson University calls attention to more than two dozen of the largest documented trees in South Carolina.  They are known as Champion Trees.  Species include oaks, cypress, ash, fir, mimosa, and pine.  And some are part of the canopy of the Botanical Garden or in the thick woods of the Clemson Experimental Forest.  In plain sight on campus, the trees include a Bur Oak next to the parking lots between Newman Hall and the Biosystems Research Building.  It’s believed that that oak was a sapling when Thomas Clemson included what would be Clemson University in his will of 1883.  The largest Black Oak in South Carolina lives a short walk from the Madren Center next to the Fort Rutledge Trail.  The trunk is 171 inches around and 91 feet high.