Iconic California tree thought to have inspired Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ falls

The iconic Monterrey Cypress thought to have inspired the drawings in “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss has fallen.

San Diego city officials announced Monday the frequently visited tree in Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla is no longer standing, according to the Sacramento Bee.

{mosads}“It’s an iconic tree, a beloved tree,” Timothy Graham, a San Diego city spokesman, told the news outlet.

The tree reportedly stood for 80 to 100 years.

La Jolla was home to author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, who went by the pen name Dr. Seuss, for more than 40 until he passed away in 1991.

Graham said he and other city officials were looking into what happened.

“We’re trying to figure out why the tree fell over,” he said Monday.

He added most of the tree has already been removed but the city is “looking to salvage it somehow.”

The tree and subsequent book that it inspired had become a sort of rallying cry for environmentalists opposed to development that cleared out forests and natural spaces.

A federal appeals court in Virginia last year quoted a passage from “The Lorax” when denying a permit for a natural gas pipeline that would have run across the Appalachian Trail.