diff --git a/include/Tree/tree.hpp b/include/Tree/tree.hpp
index 4d0fbd4..7f8ffcb 100644
--- a/include/Tree/tree.hpp
+++ b/include/Tree/tree.hpp
@@ -46,8 +46,21 @@ namespace Tree
     /// all child nodes of a node
     std::list<std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode>> children;
 
+
+    virtual std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> clone_() const = 0;
+
+
   public:
 
+    /**
+    * @brief clear the node of parent and children, but do not delete the children, required for cloning
+    *
+    */
+    void clear() {
+      children.clear();
+      parent=nullptr;
+    };
+
     /**
     * @brief get the root of the tree
     *
@@ -63,6 +76,25 @@ namespace Tree
 
     }
 
+    /**
+    * @brief method to deep clone this node
+    *
+    * @return pointer to the cloned object
+    */
+    std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> clone() const
+    {
+      std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> node = clone_();
+      node->clear();
+
+      std::list<std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode>>::const_iterator it;
+      for(it = children.begin(); it != children.end(); ++it)
+      {
+        node->addChild((*it)->clone());
+      }
+
+      return node;
+    }
+
     /**
     * @brief print the tree starting with the current node to stdout
     *
@@ -353,6 +385,9 @@ namespace Tree
   */
   class TreeRoot : public Tree::BaseNode
   {
+  private:
+    virtual std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> clone_() const {return std::make_shared<Tree::TreeRoot>();};
+
   public:
     /**
     * @brief returns the type of this node as a string
@@ -390,6 +425,8 @@ namespace Tree
   */
   class TempNode : public Tree::BaseNode
   {
+  private:
+    virtual std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> clone_() const {return std::make_shared<Tree::TempNode>();};
   public:
     /**
     * @brief returns the type of this node as a string