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Dry Tree
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<p>The Dry Tree (or Tree Solitary) is a legendary tree. It was recorded first by <a href="/facts/Marco_Polo/5I2muKvA">Marco Polo</a>, somewhere in northern <a href="/facts/Persia/24yukge8">Persia</a>. According to Polo, it was the only tree within hundreds of kilometres of desert. According to legend, the Dry Tree marked the exact site of a great battle between <a href="/facts/Alexander_the_Great/8N3gLElj">Alexander the Great</a> and <a href="/facts/Darius_III/gX0QkWPh">Darius</a>. It is not known whether this "great battle" refers to the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Issus/9I3au7IL">Battle of Issus</a> or the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Gaugamela/xho15A2v">Battle of Gaugamela</a>. The purported location—somewhere in <a href="/facts/Greater_Khorasan/YjgsyBbe">Khorasan</a>, near the border with present day <a href="/facts/Turkmenistan/YqJ4NvjU">Turkmenistan</a>—is also impossible to ascertain, because Darius had already been assassinated when Alexander reached these regions. </p>