arboretum
An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...
and
botanic 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. is ...
of the
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...
at 6000 J Street,
Sacramento, California
Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
, at J Street and Carlson Drive.
Founded in 1945 on what used to be a
pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
eugenicist
Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...
, and one of the university's founding fathers. "The name was changed without fanfare to University Arboretum in 2005" because of renewed attention to Goethe's virulently racist views, praise of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
conifer
Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
collection as well as several rare plants, including ''
Taiwania
''Taiwania'', with the single living species ''Taiwania cryptomerioides'', is a large coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae.
Etymology
''Taiwania'' means 'from Taiwan', while ''cryptomerioides'' means 'resembling ''Cryptomeria''.Gle ...
'' and the "
living fossil
A living fossil is a Deprecation, deprecated term for an extant taxon that phenotypically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of or ...
" ''
Wollemia
''Wollemia'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae, endemic to Australia. It represents one of only three living genera in the family, alongside ''Araucaria'' and ''Agathis'' (being more closely related to the latter). The ge ...
''. The arboretum has a "Jurassic Park" section with
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s species dating back to the
age of dinosaurs
''Age of Dinosaurs'' is a 2013 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Joseph J. Lawson and starring Ronny Cox and Treat Williams.
Plot
Using flesh-regeneration (biology), regeneration machines, Genetisharp (a biote ...
and another section for California
native plant
In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...
s, with some 50 different species represented.
Mike Baad, a retired professor who volunteered at the arboretum since he joined the university in 1969, is the University Arboretum's longtime director.