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WASHINGTON – A descendant of the Toomer’s Corner oak trees will be planted on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Friday morning, the idea of a Florida congressman who is a 1981 Auburn University alum.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., started the process of getting permission to plant the tree well before the original oaks were poisoned, but the attack gave the idea even more merit, he said.

“That just made it more important that we get it done,” Ross said Friday.

The architect of the U.S. Capitol, plus House and Senate leaders, had to approve the tree’s addition to the Capitol grounds.

Although the oaks have become famous for their sports-related celebrations, he said it’s Auburn’s contributions as a land grant college he wants to honor.

“It symbolizes the heritage that land grant institutions provide this country,” Ross said.

Ross, the youngest of five children growing up in Florida, started his freshman year at the University of Florida but wanted something different, so he hitchhiked to Auburn, “fell in love with the campus,” and finished with a business degree.

He planted a Toomer’s oak in his Florida front yard in 2005 and heard about the one planted at the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery a couple of years ago, so he started thinking about doing the same in Washington D.C.

The tree planting was postponed by the tornadoes, and it has been sitting in the office of the capitol architect for the last few days. He said it’s about four-feet-tall and will eventually be marked with a sign or plaque so tourists can identify it as they stroll by. It will be near the intersection of First Street SE and Independence Avenue SE, on the House side of the Capitol.

“It’s a small little tree with lots of room to grow,” Ross said.

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