if (is.null(x$phy$node.label))
x$phy$node.label <- apply(expand.grid(letters, letters,
letters), 1, paste, collapse = "")[seq_len(tree$Nnode)]
...should be...
if (is.null(x$phy$node.label))
x$phy$node.label <- apply(expand.grid(letters, letters,
letters), 1, paste, collapse = "")[seq_len(x$phy$Nnode)]