Walther Park Moon Tree

DeSoto Historical Tree Museum

DeSoto, Missouri

The DeSoto Historical Tree Museum in Walther Park, De Soto, Missouri, holds trees of historical interest collected and propagated by Stan Lemaster and Theodore Klein. The park was dedicated in June, 1990, but presumably the tree was planted in the mid-1970's as were most of the other Moon Trees. The tree is a sycamore (Platinus occidentalis), about 40 feet tall. The plaque next to the tree reads:

"This Moon Tree is an American sycamore (Platanue occidentalis) grown from one of a small number of seeds carried to the moon and back by Astronaut Stuart Roosa on the February 1971 Apollo 14 flight.

The seeds were germinated by a U.S. Forest Service scientist at NASA's Manned Space Center at Houston, Texas.

The planting of this tree is intended to focus attention on the past and future importance of trees and forest resources."

In 2019, research on the Missouri Botanical Garden Database revealed the only record of "space trees" were two "shuttle gums" (sweetgums - Liquidambar styraciflua), trees brought to space on the space shuttle in 1984. It is not clear why the Walther Park Moon Tree is not in the database, but since it was planted before the tree museum was established, it may have simply not been recorded.

The tree is located at 38° 7.442' N, 90° 33.535' W.

Upper tree photograph courtesy of Erica Botkin
Bottom tree and museum plaque photographs and information courtesy of Know Future, geocacher
Moon Tree plaque photograph courtesy of Wes Wideman

Moon Trees and Space Gums - Missouri Botanical Garden, July 19, 2019

History of the Sycamore Moon Trees
Moon Tree Home Page

NASA Official: Dave Williams, david.r.williams@nasa.gov
Last Updated: 24 May 2024, DRW