The Arboretum & Botanic Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is located on the campus of the
University of California, Santa Cruz, in the United States.
Description
The Arboretum site has remarkable climatic and topographic diversity and a wide variety of soils, since the underlying rocks include
granite,
schist,
limestone, and several
sandstones. The Arboretum officially started in 1964, when the UCSC campus was established, with about 90 species of
eucalyptus. Its gradual expansion has focused mainly on mediterranean-climate plants of the Southern Hemisphere, and now includes a comprehensive collection of
conifers, exotic
South Africanproteas,
Australian and New Zealand plants, and a fine collection of native Californian shrubs and trees.
Major collections
Australian Garden – over 2,000 species, forms, and cultivars (out of some 20,000 species native to the subcontinent), and believed to be the largest collection of Australian plants outside Australia. The gardens include many
acacias; many members of the fragrant
myrtle family such as
Eucalyptus,
Callistemon,
Melaleuca, and
Leptospermum; members of the
Protea family;
Grevilleas;
Banksias; and
waratah (Telopea speciosissima). The Elvenia J. Slosson Research Gardens (1978) support testing of new Australian ornamentals.
Eucalyptus Grove – mainly specimens donated by Max Watson, including species rare in nature or in California plantings.
Conifers – A particularly good collection, representing nearly all known genera of conifers, with the exception of a genus unknown outside of
China and a parasitic
New Caledonian genus.
Primitive Flowering Plants – A one-of-a-kind collection of "
living fossils" among flowering plants, of great interest for the study of
evolution.