By Jane O'BrienBBC News, Washington
Legend has it that Hippocrates, the ancient Greek "father" of medicine, taught his students under a tree on the island of Kos.
More than 25 centuries later, experts in the US have produced the first DNA barcode of the Oriental plane that is believed to be its descendant.
The original tree died centuries ago but the Greeks believe one of its descendents grows in the same place.
"In terms of symbolism this is huge," said team member Amy Driskell.
Dr Driskell manages the Smithsonian's Laboratories of Analytical Biology, which carried out the barcoding.
Hippocrates invented the idea that people with the same disease exhibit similar symptoms which produced similar outcomes.
His book, Prognosis, was the first to compare cases in an organised study and remains the basis of the theory of modern medical diagnosis.
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