The Arboretum Main-Taunus (76 hectares) 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 ...

located southwest of Eschborn,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, Germany. The Arboretum lies close to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

.The distance from

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, also called Frankfurt Central Station and Frankfurt Main Station, is the busiest railway station in the German state of Hesse. Because of its location near the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for lo ...

is about 10 km.

History

The location of the arboretum was an airfield from 1937 to 1945 of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

. After World War II, it was used by the Americans, until

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

was reopened. The property was then owned by the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, und was used by Deutsche Bundespost and the

Technisches Hilfswerk The (THW, English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal civil protection organisation of Germany. It is controlled by the German federal government. 99% of its 79,543 members (2019) are volunteers. Tasks The tasks of the ...

. In 1981, the state of Hesse acquired the land to use it for ''Ersatzaufforstung'' for the enlargement of the airport. The

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 ...

was planned to represent four different regions of the world in the

temperate zone In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

of the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

: * Western part of North America * Eastern part of North America * Asia (Japan, the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

, China) * Europe, Caucasus and Asia Minor The arboretum houses 600 different species of trees and bushes, not as single specimens as in some other arboreta, but grouped in forests and woodlands as they might grow in the regions. The 36 little forests are separated by meadows with fruit trees ( Streuobstwiese) and flowering meadows. The park also features a ''Lehrpfad'' (educational path) for rocks, and another for local trees, as well as a

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

which is completely surrounded by plants for protection. A near-by farmer from Sulzbach uses some of the land with ''naturnah'' methods, and a bee-keeper installed bee-hives. The Southern Europe region is represented in 63 different trees and bushes. The park features 17 different oak trees. Special trees are the North American

redwoods Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...

, the trees with the largest mass, and the tree with the longest life expectancy, the bristlecone pine as well as the

Chilean pine ''Araucaria araucana'' (commonly called the monkey puzzle tree, monkey tail tree, piñonero, pewen or Chilean pine) is an evergreen tree growing to a trunk diameter of 1–1.5 m (3–5 ft) and a height of 30–40 m (100–130 ft). ...

. The latter is the sole tree present in the arboretum originating from the Southern Hemisphere.

History

References

Further reading

External links