diff --git a/src/TreeView.jl b/src/TreeView.jl
index ad424f5..6b7c1e9 100644
--- a/src/TreeView.jl
+++ b/src/TreeView.jl
@@ -13,11 +13,15 @@ end
 
 add_numbered_vertex!(g) = (add_vertex!(g); top = nv(g))  # returns the number of the new vertex
 
+# latex treats # as a special character, so we have to escape it. See:
+# https://github.com/sisl/TikzGraphs.jl/issues/12
+latex_escape(s::String) = replace(s, "#", "\\#")
+
 "Convert the current node into a label"
 function label(sym)
     sym == :(^) && return "\\textasciicircum"  # TikzGraphs chokes on ^
 
-    return string("\\texttt{", sym, "}")
+    return latex_escape(string("\\texttt{", sym, "}"))
 end
 
 
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 6985c73..335d7c3 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -17,3 +17,10 @@ using Base.Test
     t = @tree x^2 + y^2
     @test length(t.labels) == 7
 end
+
+@testset "latex special characters" begin
+    # Test for issues with the characters present in julia's generated symbols
+    expr = Expr(Symbol("##271"))
+    t = walk_tree(expr)
+    @test t.labels[1] == "\\texttt{\\#\\#271}"
+end