The Stanford Tree is the Stanford Band's mascot and the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is "Cardinal", referring to the vivid Stanford Cardinal Red color (not the common songbird as at several other schools), and the university does not have an official mascot. The Tree, in various versions, has been called one of America's most bizarre and controversial college mascots.[1] The tree regularly appears at the top of Internet "worst mascot" lists[2][3][4][5] but has also appeared on at least one list of top mascots.[6]