A: In one sense, four, but in another, the number continues to grow. The current full-size rendition of the historic tree outside Old Main, planted last April, is the fourth-generation Old Willow. The original Old Willow—which came from a cutting former university president Evan Pugh took during a visit to Europe—is believed to be the first tree planted at University Park, in 1859 on what is now the Allen Street Mall, and lasted until it fell in a windstorm in 1923. “I look at it like this was the start of Penn State’s legacy of landscape,” says Office of Physical Plant landscape architect Derek Kalp ’94 A&A. The second-generation willow was planted nearby and lasted until the 1970s, and the third-generation tree, planted using cuttings from its predecessor, stood until a storm felled it in 2021. Roughly 50–60 cuttings were made from that tree, and after growing for three years at an OPP nursery, several were sent to other Penn State campuses and agricultural research stations around the commonwealth. Kalp points out that the species of willow—salix babylonica—traces its roots back thousands of years. “Not only does it have this Penn State history, but its genetic history is really long,” he says. 

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