Historical Name: The Seeing Eye
Common Name: European Beech
Latin Name: Fagus sylvatica
The Seeing Eye is a world-famous philanthropic organization in Morris County, NJ. It breeds, raises, and trains Seeing Eye dogs to assist blind people. The organization’s mission is to “enhance the independence, dignity, and self-confidence of blind people through the use of Seeing Eye dogs.” Founded in 1929, the Seeing Eye moved to its current campus in 1965. On this property a 200+ year-old European Copper Beech graced the grounds. Old age, disease and a freak snowstorm took their toll and the tree had to be taken down in 2011. The staff and faculty were saddened to lose the tree. Many students, who return to the campus every decade or so to receive a new Seeing Eye dog, have fond memories of sitting beneath the majestic tree. Fortunately, the Seeing Eye staff was able to collect seeds from the tree before it was removed and brought them to UCNJ’s Historic Tree Project. Some of the seeds germinated and spent a few years developing in the college’s Historic Tree Nursery. In April 2015 two of the most vigorous young trees were planted on the Seeing Eye campus where they grow today to continue the legacy of their parent. In April 2022 another one of the offspring trees was planted into UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove.
As an interesting biological/horticultural sidelight, the original Seeing Eye European Beech had copper-colored leaves. Such trees are called Copper Beeches. As is frequently the case with Copper Beeches, the offspring grown from seeds of these trees exhibit a wide diversity of leaf colors, from copper to green. The specimen in UCNJ’s Historic Tree Grove has some copper coloration in its leaves. The two offspring trees growing on the Seeing Eye campus did not seem to inherit the copper-colored leaf trait from their parent.