The Späth-Arboretum (3.5 hectares) is an

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 ...

now maintained by the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. It is located at Späthstraße 80/81,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and open several days per week in the warmer months.

About

The arboretum was begun in 1879 by Franz Ludwig Späth, owner of the world's largest and oldest tree nursery ( Späth nursery, founded 1720), when he expanded the garden around his 1874 villa. Berlin city gardener

Gustav Meyer Gustav Meyer (25 November 1850 – 28 August 1900) was a German linguist and Indo-European scholar, considered to be one of the most important Albanologists of his time, most importantly by proving that the Albanian language belongs to the Indo-E ...

designed the arboretum in the style of an

English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. On Franz's death in 1913, ownership passed to his son Hellmut, who added a

rock garden A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...

to the centre in 1928. The first arboretum catalogue published in 1930 listed almost 4,500

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

. Hellmut was executed in Sachsenhausen in 1945; ownership passed to a trust in 1947, and then to the people in 1949. When the university's Institute for Special Botany was created, it was given the villa and arboretum as its home in 1961. In 1966 the grounds were opened to the public four Sundays a year for concerts, a tradition which continues to this day. In 1969 the institute became affiliated with the university's Museum of Natural History, and in 1981 a series of six postal stamps entitled "Rare trees from the Arboretum" was issued. Today the arboretum contains more than 1,200 exotic trees and bushes from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for research and display. Its total holdings include about 4,000 plant

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

with a systematic collection of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

plants, medicinal and aromatic garden, and rock garden.

External links

*
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Späth-Arboretum

Garden map

Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum entry

Berlin.de entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spath-Arboretum Arboreta in Germany Gardens in Berlin Treptow-Köpenick

About

See also

External links