Grinch Steals Rare Tree To Use For Christmas

It wasn't even a very good-looking Christmas tree. As described, this particular tree would not have the typical conical shape of a fir tree. Yet someone chopped down and stole an extremely tree from the University of Washington Botanical Gardens arboretum, because stealing it made it free.

The 7-foot Keteleeria evelyniana conifer was one of the park's rarest specimens. It is an endangered species collected from the mountainous Yunnan province in China. It was one of only two at the arboretum.

Randall Hitchin, manager of living collections for the University of Washington Botanical Gardens, which include the arboretum, nurtured the tree from the time it arrived as a seedling in 1998. He said, "It makes me want to cry. "A Keteleeria is something that even most arborists have never heard of. Or if they have, it's just a reference in a book. To have a specimen in the flesh is just a tremendous thing."

The victim tree was located in the park's northeast corner, which may have made it an easy mark. One can only hope that Santa remembers this thief was "bad" and give him nothing, or perhaps that his family will notice that their tree is unusual, and turn him in, or at least give him a lump of coal.