Somewhere on the rugged, pathless hills of Big Bend National Park, under the sweltering Texas sun, a singular tree stands apart from the rest. At least for the people who know what they are looking for.
Its odds of survival are grim. The oak tree, standing stoically about 30 feet high, is scarred by fire and likely suffering from a serious fungal infection.
This was the scene a group of nine researchers, led by the Morton Arboretum, in suburban Chicago, and the United States Botanic Garden, came across when they found a specimen of Quercus tardifolia, a type of oak thought to be extinct since 2011, at Big Bend on May 25.
