An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. It is a living museum of trees and woody plants, grown and cared for by an organization committed to their stewardship. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arboreta are in botanical gardens as living collections of woody plants and are intended at least in part for scientific study.
In Latin, an arboretum is a place planted with trees, not necessarily in this specific sense, and "arboretum" as an English word is first recorded used by John Claudius Loudon in 1833 in The Gardener's Magazine, but the concept was already long-established by then.OED, "Arboretum"; they give Loudon the first English use, but in a book of 1838.
An arboretum specializing in growing conifers is known as a pinetum. Other specialist arboreta include saliceta (willows), populeta (poplar), and querceta (oaks). Related collections include a fruticetum, from the Latin frutex, meaning shrub, much more often a shrubbery, and a viticetum (from the Latin vitis, meaning vine, referring in particular to a grape vine). A palm house is a large greenhouse for palms and other tender trees.
History
Egyptian pharaohs planted exotic trees and cared for them; they brought ebony wood from the Sudan, and pine and cedar from Syria. Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt returned bearing thirty-one live frankincense trees, the roots of which were carefully kept in baskets for the duration of the voyage; this was the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees. It is reported that Hatshepsut had these trees planted in the courts of her Deir el Bahri mortuary temple complex.
Marco Polo describes how Kublai Khan collected specimens of evergreen trees that he admired from around the Mongol Empire in the late 13th century, and had them brought by elephant to his winter capital at Khanbaliq (modern Beijing), where they were planted on a large artificial mound, "a hundred paces in height and over a mile in cicumference", known as the "Green Mound", with a palace or pavilion at the top. The ground of the mound was also covered in pieces of green stone.Marco Polo, Travels, quoted in Robinson, pp. 32-33
In an arboretum a wide variety of trees and shrubs are cultivated. Typically the individual trees are labelled for identification. The trees may also be organised in a way to aid their study or growth.
Many tree collections have been claimed as the first modern arboretum, with the term applied retrospectively as it probably did not come into use even orally until the later eighteenth century, or later. Probably the most important early proponent of the arboretum in the English-speaking transatlantic world was the prolific landscape gardener and writer, John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) who undertook many gardening commissions and published the Gardener's Magazine, Encyclopaedia of Gardening and other major works. Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, 8 vols., (1838) is probably the most significant work on the subject in British history and included an account of all trees and shrubs that were hardy in the British climate, an international history of arboriculture, an assessment of the cultural, economic and industrial value of trees and four volumes of plates.
Loudon urged that a national arboretum be created and called for arboreta and other systematic collections to be established in public parks, private gardens, country estates, and other places. He regarded the Derby Arboretum (1840) as the most important landscape-gardening commission of the latter part of his career because it demonstrated the benefits of a public arboretum (for more details see below). Commenting on the Loddiges family's famous Hackney Botanic Garden arboretum, begun in 1816, which was a commercial nursery that subsequently opened free to the public, for educational benefit, every Sunday, Loudon wrote: "The arboretum looks better this season than it has ever done since it was planted... The more lofty trees suffered from the late high winds, but not materially. We walked round the two outer spirals of this coil of trees and shrubs; viz. from Acer to Quercus. There is no garden scene about London so interesting". A plan of the Loddiges' arboretum was included in The Encyclopaedia of Gardening, 1834 edition. Leaves from Loddiges' arboretum and in some instances entire trees, were studiously drawn to illustrate Loudon's encyclopaedic book Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum which also incorporated drawings from other early botanic gardens and parklands throughout the United Kingdom.Paul A. Elliott, Charles Watkins and Stephen Daniels, The British Arboretum: Trees, Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century (London; Pickering and Chatto, 2011; Paul A. Elliott, Charles Watkins and Stephen Daniels Eds., 'Cultural and Historical Geographies of the Arboretum', special issue of Garden History (2007) )
One example of an early European tree collection is the Trsteno Arboretum, near Dubrovnik in Croatia. The date of its founding is unknown, but it was already in existence by 1492, when a span aqueduct to irrigate the arboretum was constructed; this aqueduct is still in use. The garden was created by the prominent local Gučetić/Gozze family. It suffered two major disasters in the 1990s but its two unique and ancient Oriental Planes remained standing.
Later examples
Asia – India Udhagamandalam (Ooty) Arboretum, The Nilgiris, India
The arboretum at Ooty was established in 1992 with an aim of conserving native and indigenous trees, and is maintained by the Department of Horticulture with Hill Area Development Programme funds. It occupies near Ooty Lake. The site is a micro watershed area and a natural habitat for both indigenous and migratory birds; prior to the creation of the arboretum it had been neglected, and the feeder line bringing water to the lake was contaminated with urban waste and agricultural chemicals. From 2005 to 2006 the Hill Area Development Programme provided funds of Rs 1,250,000 for the construction of permanent fencing, a footpath, and other infrastructure facilities.
Australia and New Zealand Eastwoodhill Arboretum, Gisborne, New Zealand Probably the largest collection of Northern Hemisphere trees in the Southern Hemisphere can be found at Eastwoodhill Arboretum, Ngatapa, Gisborne, New Zealand.
The arboretum is the realization of the dream of William Douglas Cook (1884–1967), who started planting trees on his farm shortly after the First World War. The arboretum is now the National Arboretum of New Zealand, and holds some 4,000 different trees, shrubs and climbers.
Taitua Arboretum, Hamilton, New Zealand
This arboretum was offered to Hamilton residents in 1997. Trees and shrubs were planted there from 1973 by John and Bunny Mortimer to provide shelter and shade for local animals. The arboretum is a popular picnic spot and is enjoyed by about 60,000 people every year. The twenty-two hectare arboretum contains 1500 species of trees and much birdlife.
RJ Hamer Arboretum, Victoria, Australia Parks Victoria RJ Hamer Arboretum, Visitors to the RJ Hamer Arboretum can take a quiet, peaceful stroll along the many walking tracks and roads providing access to the 126 hectares of breathtaking scenery and tranquil beauty that the Arboretum has to offer. The RJ Hamer Arboretum land is a small part of the original Dandenong and Woori Yallock State forest, proclaimed over 110 years ago. The RJ Hamer Arboretum is the first known occasion in which a forest style Arboretum was completely established by planting. A basic planting design was completed in 1970 and planting was carried out for the next 15 years.
The Tasmanian Arboretum, Devonport, Tasmania The Tasmanian Arboretum was established in 1984 on the Don River in Devonport, Tasmania, Australia. The main site is 58 ha. There are over 2,500 plants in the geographic and thematic collections along with riparian revegetation. Maintenance of the collections is done by volunteers.
The National Arboretum, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory National Arboretum Canberra is being developed on a 250-hectare site in the Greenhills Forest areas west of the Tuggeranong Parkway and Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, Australia. It includes an existing stand of 5000 Himalayan cedars and the 80-year-old cork oak plantation which were damaged by the 2001 and 2003 Canberra bushfires. It features different types of threatened and symbolic trees from around Australia and the world, including the world's largest planting of the Wollemi pine. There will eventually be 100 forests and 100 gardens with almost 80 forests planted already.Vukovljak, Kathryn.
Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Located at Yarramundi Reach on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, the Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum is a 30-hectare site originally planted by Professor Pryor between 1954 and 1957 to improve the view from Government House.
Europe
Abney Park Arboretum, London, England Shortly before the Derby Arboretum opened in 1840, another arboretum was opened for free public access at Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington near London, modelled partly on Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston and designed by Loddiges nursery. It was laid out with 2,500 trees and shrubs, all labelled and arranged in an unusual alphabetical format from A for Acer (maple trees) to Z for Zanthoxylum (American toothache trees). Until Kew was enlarged and opened to the public, this remained the largest arboretum in Europe. It never achieved the recognition of the better financed early nineteenth century botanical gardens and arboreta that could afford members' events, indoor facilities and curatorial staff for those who paid accordingly. However, unlike these, and even unlike the 'public' arboretum at Derby, the Abney Park arboretum always offered public access free of charge, though sometimes, by pre-arrangement; a Viewing Order was needed so as not to interfere with funeral events.
Arboretum Norr, Umeå, Sweden
An arboretum containing mostly plants from Scandinavian countries.
Atatürk Arboretum, Istanbul, Turkey
Situated on the European side of Istanbul in the northern Sarıyer district, Atatürk Arboretum covers 296 ha (730 acres) adjacent to the Belgrad Forest. The arboretum also includes a rare plant nursery operated by Istanbul University Forestry Department.
Bank Hall Arboretum, Lancashire, England
A small arboretum at Bank Hall Gardens, Bretherton in Lancashire, contains a yew thought to be at least 550 years old, the oldest in Lancashire. George Anthony Legh Keck had the arboretum planted in the gardens which were abandoned from the 1970s until 1995 when Bank Hall Action Group cleared the grounds. It contains one of two known fallen Sequoia sempervirens in the UK, Wellingtonia, dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Chinese swamp cypress and yew.Redwood World, "Giant Redwoods in the UK – Bretherton – Bank Hall (Lancashire)" https://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/bretherton.htm November 2009 Recent additions by the Action Group include paperbark maple (Acer griseum) (2004), cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) (2005), further yew and pine trees (2006–2009) and a Ginkgo biloba (2011) for the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It also has many specimens of snowdrop, daffodil and bluebell.
Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire, England Situated one and a quarter miles west of Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, Batsford Arboretum is tucked away on a south facing escarpment of the famous Cotswold Hills.
Bedgebury National Pinetum, Kent, England