diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 041b58d..ce7021b 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ Suggests:
     rmarkdown,
     markdown,
     soilDB,
-    ape
+    ape,
+    data.tree
 RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
 Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
 VignetteBuilder: knitr
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 6d72933..00dd7a7 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export(parent_level)
 export(parse_family)
 export(preceding_taxon_codes)
 export(relative_taxon_code_position)
+export(taxonTree)
 export(taxon_code_to_taxon)
 export(taxon_to_level)
 export(taxon_to_taxon_code)
diff --git a/R/taxonTree.R b/R/taxonTree.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6715456
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/taxonTree.R
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+
+#' Create a `data.tree` Object from Taxon Names
+#'
+#' @param taxon A vector of taxon names
+#' @param root Label for root node. Default: `"Soil Taxonomy"`; `NULL` for "unrooted" tree.
+#' @param verbose Print tree output? Default: `TRUE`
+#' @param ... Additional arguments to `data.tree::as.Node.data.frame()`
+#'
+#' @return A data.tree object (invisibly). A text representation of the tree is printed when `verbose=TRUE`.
+#' @export
+#' @examplesIf !inherits(requireNamespace("data.tree", quietly = TRUE), 'try-error')
+#' @examples
+#' taxonTree(c("hapludults", "hapludalfs"))
+taxonTree <- function(taxon, root = "Soil Taxonomy", verbose = TRUE, ...) {
+  if (!requireNamespace("data.tree")) {
+    stop("package 'data.tree' is required", call. = FALSE)
+  }
+
+  x <- unique(do.call('c', getChildTaxa(taxon)))
+  y <- getTaxonAtLevel(x, level = c("order", "suborder", "greatgroup", "subgroup"))
+  y <- y[order(taxon_to_taxon_code(x)),]
+  y <- y[complete.cases(y),]
+
+  y$pathString <- with(y, paste0(ifelse(length(root) > 0, paste0(root, "/"), ""),
+                                 order, "/", suborder, "/", greatgroup, "/", subgroup))
+  n <- data.tree::as.Node(y, ...)
+  if (isTRUE(verbose)) {
+    print(n, limit = NULL)
+  }
+
+  invisible(n)
+}
+
+taxonTree("alfisols")
diff --git a/man/taxonTree.Rd b/man/taxonTree.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ba507d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/taxonTree.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/taxonTree.R
+\name{taxonTree}
+\alias{taxonTree}
+\title{Create a \code{data.tree} Object from Taxon Names}
+\usage{
+taxonTree(taxon, root = "Soil Taxonomy", verbose = TRUE, ...)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{taxon}{A vector of taxon names}
+
+\item{root}{Label for root node. Default: \code{"Soil Taxonomy"}; \code{NULL} for "unrooted" tree.}
+
+\item{verbose}{Print tree output? Default: \code{TRUE}}
+
+\item{...}{Additional arguments to \code{data.tree::as.Node.data.frame()}}
+}
+\value{
+A data.tree object (invisibly). A text representation of the tree is printed when \code{verbose=TRUE}.
+}
+\description{
+Create a \code{data.tree} Object from Taxon Names
+}
+\examples{
+\dontshow{if (!inherits(requireNamespace("data.tree", quietly = TRUE), 'try-error')) (if (getRversion() >= "3.4") withAutoprint else force)(\{ # examplesIf}
+\dontshow{\}) # examplesIf}
+taxonTree(c("hapludults", "hapludalfs"))
+}