The Lussich Arboretum is an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

of located in the

Maldonado Department The Maldonado Department ( es, Departamento de Maldonado; ), with an area of and 164,300 inhabitants (2011), is located to the southeast of Uruguay. Its capital is Maldonado. Geography and climate Neighbouring departments are Rocha to the East ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

near

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

and

Punta Ballena Punta Ballena is a small peninsula (''punta'') and a resort (''balneario''), as well as an important tourist attraction on the coast of Río de la Plata in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. It comprises an approximately long stripe ...

History

On 5 October 1896

Antonio Lussich Antonio Dionisio Lussich (March 23, 1848 in Montevideo – June 5, 1928 in Punta del Este) was an Uruguayan sailor, arboricultorist and writer. Family background His father was Filip Lukšić, a Croatian Merchant sailor who arrived in Montev ...

bought a terrain of , which extend from "Arroyo el Potrero" to "Sierra de la Ballena" and from

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

Laguna del Sauce Laguna del Sauce (Lagoon of the Willow) is a subtropical shallow lake and the largest water body in the Maldonado Department of Uruguay. It is located west of Punta del Este. The lake is the only freshwater ecosystem in the country classified for ...

, land which at that time consisted only of sand dunes and stones. The next year ''Antonio Lussich'' started the forestry works which had as objective on one hand, to forest the dry lands in an attempt to stop the high winds that came from the ocean, and on the other, once the forest was established, to encourage

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

to inhabit it. In order to do that, ''Antonio Lussich'', thanks to the enterprise of maritime rescue contracts obtained all over the world, could manage to get seeds from numerous continents. He bought seeds, plants and trees from around the world and planted them around his house. The first trees planted were ''

Tamarix The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...

'', sea pines, ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' and '' Acacia trinervis'' to resist the strong winds and sand. During December 1979, was donated to the Municipality of Maldonado and then opened to the public. The Lussich Arboretum is one of the most important Forest Reserves in the world.

Species

The Lussich Arboretum has more than 400 exotic

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

and around 70

an species.Species in the Lussich Arboretum (Spanish)
Between many of the

trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are u ...

species, the most important are: * ''

Abies Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...

'', 6 species. * ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'', 8 species. * ''

Cupressus ''Cupressus'' is one of several genera of evergreen conifers within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group. Based on genetic and morphological analysis, the ge ...

'', 9 species. * ''

'', 45 species. * ''

Juniperus Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

'', 10 species. * ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

'', 20 species. * ''

Quercus An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

'', 16 species. * ''

Thuja ''Thuja'' ( ) is a genus of coniferous tree or shrub in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. The genus is monophyletic and sister to ''Thujopsis''. M ...

'', 4 species.

References

{{Coord, 34, 53, 0, S, 55, 2, 8, W, region:UY-MA_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Arboreta Trees of Uruguay Parks in Uruguay Maldonado Department

History

Species

See also

References