This is the tree in La Jolla, California, that apparently inspired The Lorax.
City of San Diego
A Monterey Cypress tree believed to have inspired Dr. Seuss’ famous children’s book The Lorax fell last week. The tree’s curved trunk and mass of leaves are believed to have inspired the Truffula trees from The Lorax, a fable about environmental destruction that was published in 1971.
Dr. Seuss wrote dozens of children’s books.
Gene Lester / Getty Images
“Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space… one morning, I came to this glorious place. And I first saw the trees! The Truffula Trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze,” the author wrote in The Lorax.
The Lorax was published in 1971.
Penguin Random House
Dr. Seuss, the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel, apparently could see the tree in Scripps Park from his home in La Jolla, California.
The parks and recreation department and the mayor’s office weren’t immediately available for comment, but a spokesperson told CNN that there wasn’t a “definitive” reason why the tree fell. The city reportedly plans to salvage the trunk, repurpose it and plant a new tree.
In the book, the small, orange Lorax appears from a stump of a felled tree in the Truffula forest to try to stop the greedy Once-ler from cutting down all the trees and profiting from them.
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues,” the Lorax says until the very end of the story.
According to a website about the city, La Jolla inspired Dr. Seuss in other ways too. For example, the cranky orange fish in the Cat and the Hat is similar to the Garibaldi fish, rarely seen anywhere other than the coast of southern California.