Arboretum
An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to cultivating, studying, and displaying trees and other woody plants.
Living collection: A curated assemblage of living plants maintained for research, conservation, education, or display. An arboretum’s trees are documented and maintained as a collection, not merely as landscaping.
Botanical garden: A garden that maintains documented collections of living plants for scientific research, conservation, education, or display. An arboretum is a specialized kind of botanical garden centered on woody plants.
John Claudius Loudon: A Scottish landscape gardener and writer whose works shaped nineteenth-century gardening and arboretum design. Loudon’s writings helped popularize the arboretum as a distinct garden form.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: A botanical garden and plant science institution in London, founded in the eighteenth century. Kew’s arboretum landscapes form part of a large, diverse botanical garden.
Assisted migration: The deliberate movement of species or populations to locations expected to remain suitable under environmental change. Arboreta can test whether moving tree species helps them persist as climates shift.
Dendrology: The study of woody plants, especially trees and shrubs, including their identification and classification. Arboreta support the identification and study of the woody plants they cultivate.
Woody plant: A plant that develops persistent, lignified stems, including trees, shrubs, and lianas. Woody plants form the defining focus of an arboretum’s collection.
Derby Arboretum: A public arboretum opened in Derby, England, in 1840 and designed by John Claudius Loudon. Its opening established an early model for the public arboretum.
Morton Arboretum: A tree-focused botanical garden and research institution in Lisle, Illinois, established in 1922. Its collections and research exemplify a large American arboretum.
Climate change and forests: The effects of changing climate on forest ecosystems, including species ranges, growth, disturbance, and mortality. Long-lived tree collections can reveal how woody species respond to changing conditions.