The Deerfield Beach Arboretum, also known as the Tree Zoo, 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 ...

and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

located in

Deerfield Beach, Florida Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859. It is a principal ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It covers 9 acres (3.6 ha). It is owned by the city of Deerfield Beach and managed by The Friends of the Deerfield Beach Arboretum. It contains more than 200 different species of trees and palms from around the world, with more than 50 different species of flowering trees. The Arboretum was founded by the then city forester, Zeke Landis, in 1995 with a selection of 22 trees and palms, and has since grown to 325 species (excluding native) of palms, tropical fruit trees, exotic flowering and canopy trees, bamboos, and miscellaneous exotic trees. Arboretum areas currently include:

Bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

garden, Children's Garden, Exotic canopy trees, Flowering trees, Native canopy trees,

Orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

Display,

Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

trees,

Spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

and

Herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

Garden, Tropical

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

trees, and a

Wetlands 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 ...

demonstration area. The plant collection is varied and extensive. Some of the plants at the arboretum include: *American Oil Palm -

Elaeis oleifera ''Elaeis oleifera'' is a species of palm commonly called the American oil palm. It is native to South and Central America from Honduras to northern Brazil. Unlike its relative ''Elaeis guineensis'', the African oil palm, it is rarely planted co ...

*African Oil Palm -

Elaeis guineensis ''Elaeis guineensis'' is a species of palm commonly just called oil palm but also sometimes African oil palm or macaw-fat. It is the principal source of palm oil. It is native to west and southwest Africa, specifically the area between Angola an ...

*African Tulip -

Spathodea ''Spathodea'' is a genus in the plant family Bignoniaceae. The single species it contains, ''Spathodea campanulata'', is commonly known as the African tulip tree. The tree grows between tall and is native to tropical dry forests of Africa. It ha ...

Baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus made up of eight species of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). They are placed in the Malvaceae family, subfamily Bombacoideae. They are native to Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia.Tropic ...

Coral Tree ''Erythrina'' is a genus of plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, with the larger species growing up to in height. The generic ...

*Guiana Chestnut -

Pachira aquatica ''Pachira aquatica'' is a tropical wetland tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to Central and South America where it grows in swamps. It is known by its common names Malabar chestnut, French peanut, Guiana chestnut, Provision tree, Saba n ...

* Indian Laurel *

Jacaranda mimosifolia ''Jacaranda mimosifolia'' is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting violet-colored flowers. It is also known as the jacaranda, blue jacaranda, ...

* Rainbow Eucalyptus *

Sausage Tree ''Kigelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. The genus consists of only one species, ''Kigelia africana'', which occurs throughout tropical Africa. The so-called sausage tree grows a poisonous fruit that is up to long, ...

Ylang Ylang ''Cananga odorata'', known as ylang-ylang ( ) or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Thailand and Viet ...

The Arboretum is currently maintained by the Friends of the Deerfield Beach Arboretum which hosts a workday every first Saturday of the month (about 3 hours 9am -12 noon followed by a free lunch). There are tours every Friday at 10:00am (also same time on first Saturday of the month). There is a free horticultural presentation on the second Thursday of the month at 7 pm in the Constitution Park building from September to May. The Arboretum is currently open from dawn to dusk and is free. There is a children's playground on the site. There is a paved trail which as a circle measures a half mile with exercise stations.

See also