The Albert Löfgren State Park ( pt, Parque Estadual Alberto Löfgren), commonly known as the São Paulo Forest Gardens ( pt, Horto Florestal de São Paulo) is a state park in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Brazil.

Location

The Albert Löfgren State Park is in the north of the city of

, adjoining the Cantareira State Park. It has an area of . About of the park are public space. It is open every day from 6am to 6pm. The park gets about 720,000 visitors each year.

History

The area was expropriated by the Engenho da Pedra Branca in 1896 to hold a botanical garden. The Swedish naturalist and botanist Albert Löfgren created the park and was the first director, from 1907 to 1909. The garden became the base for the Forest Service, today the Forest Institute of the São Paulo Secretariat of the Environment. Pines planted when the park was founded can still be seen in the Albert Löefgren Arboretum.

Facilities

The park has a stage for events, picnic area, playground, changing room, jogging track, sports court, soccer fields, exercise equipment, drinking water, lakes and toilets. It contains an environmental education center, the Summer Palace of the state government and the headquarters of the state military police and forest police. The Octavio Vecchi Museum, or Wood Museum, was inaugurated in 1931. It has the largest collection of different woods in Latin America. The wood samples have engravings of the leaves and fruit of the tree they came from. The floor and ceiling are also made of wood samples. There is a monument marking the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...

, which passes through the park. There are no snack bars in the park, but there are places to eat around the main entrance. Vegetation includes exotic species such as

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 e ...

, pinheiro-do-brejo (''

Taxodium distichum ''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide r ...

'') and

cryptomeria ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' ...

, as well as native trees such as pau-brasil (''

Caesalpinia echinata ''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood ( pt, pau-de-pernambuco, ...

''), carvalho-nacional ('' Quercus faginea''), pau-ferro (''

Libidibia ferrea ''Libidibia ferrea'', formerly ''Caesalpinia ferrea'', and commonly known as pau ferro, Jucá, Brazilian ironwood, morado, or leopard tree, is a tree found in Brazil and Bolivia. Wood Most species of ''Caesalpinia'' s.l. have poorly defined g ...

'') and jatobá (''

Hymenaea courbaril ''Hymenaea courbaril'', the courbaril or West Indian locust, is a tree common in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. It is a hardwood that is used for furniture, flooring, and decoration. Its hard fruit pods have edible dry pulp ...

''). Fauna include

robust capuchin monkey Robust capuchin monkeys are capuchin monkeys in the genus ''Sapajus''. Formerly, all capuchin monkeys were placed in the genus ''Cebus''. ''Sapajus'' was erected in 2012 by Jessica Lynch Alfaro et al. to differentiate the robust (tufted) capuchin ...

s, Brazilian squirrel (''Sciurus aestuans''), opossums (''

Didelphis ''Didelphis'' is a genus of New World marsupials. The six species in the genus ''Didelphis'', commonly known as Large American opossums, are members of the ''opossum'' order, Didelphimorphia. The genus ''Didelphis'' is composed of cat-sized om ...

''),

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five g ...

s, storks, herons, rufous-collared sparrow (''Zonotrichia capensis'') and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert Lofgren State Park State parks of Brazil Protected areas established in 1896 1896 establishments in Brazil Protected areas of São Paulo (state) Parks in São Paulo