This SC tree with roots as thick as an elephant leg is now a heritage tree. Here’s what that means

Greenville’s signature tree now comes with a pedigree.

The 80-year-old American beech along the Swamp Rabbit Trail and next to Falls Park on the Reedy has been named a Heritage Tree by South Carolina Parks and Recreation.

The tree, soaring some 100 feet, is known because the bank on which it stands has been partially washed away, exposing about half of its root system.

It’s known both as the Root Tree and the Medusa Tree, named for the snake-haired gorgon of Greek mythology.

Parks and Recreation has named a tree or group of trees in a singular location each year for 20 years to celebrate remarkable trees in South Carolina, the state agency says on its website.

The first — in 2004 — was the world renowned Angel Oak on John’s Island, which is 65 feet tall with a diameter of 8.5 feet. It is so big it shades about 15 acres.

Greenville’s tree was planted in 1932 in an arboretum on what was once the campus of Furman University. The then newly established Greenville Garden Club oversaw more than 200 plantings in the arboretum.

Arborists believe the bank started washing away when Furman College Way was built beside the bank.

The root system is so tall an adult standing beside it looks like a toddler. Some roots are as thick as an elephant’s leg, others as thin as a man’s arm, gnarled, twisted, growing down and across, clipped off.

Despite its appearance, experts say the tree is healthy; a robust root system is likely in the ground behind it.

The only challenge it has faced are small-time vandals who carve their initials or champion their love life, including someone named Joyce who it appears went back when the love dimmed and scratched out the name of her suitor.

Other Heritage Trees are the American Elm, White Oak, Red Oak, and Live Oak on the Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina, Southern Magnolias at Winthrop University and the Bald Cypress Grove at Edisto.