Urban Arboretum Tour

Beesia deltophylla
Also known as beesia. This species is native to southeastern Tibet. Its specific name, or epithet, deltophylla translates to “triangle-leaved.”

Polystichum makinoi
Also known as Makinoi’s holly fern. This medium-to-large-sized fern is native to India, China, Japan, and the Philippines.

Epimedium grandiflorum
Also known as bishop’s hat because its four-spurred flowers resemble a clergyman’s biretta. This species is native to Japan, Korea, and Northeastern China.

Asarum splendens
Also known as the Chinese wild ginger. This species is native to Central China. You can recognize it by its dark green, leathery leaves that are speckled with silver toward the center. This species blooms from May to June.

Asplenium scolopendrium
Also known as Hart’s-tongue fern, named after the shape of its long, green leaves. This species is native to North America, Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Europe. You can recognize it by its glossy, bright green leaves.

Dichroa febrifuga
Also known by its common name, Chinese quinine. This species is native to Southeastern Asia and one of the 50 Fundamental Herbs in Chinese medicine. It is used for many different medical applications, including reduction of fevers.

Arisaema consanguineum
Also known as the Himalayan cobra lily. This plant is especially tall, growing up to three feet high when mature. It is native to China, India, Myanmar, and Taiwan. This species does exceptionally well in shady woodlands and city gardens. You might find that it is happiest when planted in groups by the dozen.

Prunus domestica
Also known as the common plum. Its native range extends from Europe to West Asia.

Laurus nobilis
Also known as the bay laurel. It is native to the Mediterranean region.

Ficus carica
Also known as the Olympian fig. It is native to the Mediterranean region and West Africa.

Drimys winteri
Also known as winter’s bark. It is native to South America, specifically Chile and Argentina. Historically, the bark of this plant was used as a cure for scurvy. Here, you can see winter’s bark with The Spheres in the background.

Actinidia tetramera var. maloides
Pictured is a species from Actinidia, a genus of woody plants native to temperate, Eastern Asia. Local plantsman, Dan Hinkley gifted this plant to the Amazon Horticulture program.

Agave ovatifolia
Also known as whale’s tongue agave. It is native to the Nuevo León region of Mexico.

Philadelphus madrensis
Also known as desert mock orange. This species is native to Mexico and the American Southwest.

Vaccinium ovatum
Also known as the evergreen huckleberry or winter huckleberry. This evergreen shrub is native to Western North America along the coastline. It’s a true huckleberry plant and produces round, edible black berries in the summer months.

Polystichum makinoi
Also known as Makinoi’s holly fern. This medium-to-large-sized fern is native to India, China, Japan, and the Philippines.

Tsuga heterophylla
Here you can see a western hemlock, this specimen is much smaller than that in the Urban Native Forest, which you’ll see at the next stop. This young tree is growing atop a redcedar stump.

Oxalis oregana
Also known as the redwood sorrel. This species forms lush carpets along the cool floor of coastal redwood forests. It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America, from B.C. down to California.

Vaccinium ovatum
Also known as the evergreen huckleberry or winter huckleberry. This evergreen shrub is native to Western North America along the coastline. It’s a true huckleberry plant and produces round, edible black berries in the summer months.

Polypodium vacciniifolium
Look closely and you can see the fern species, Polypodium vacciniifolium, growing on the cedar stump.

Tsuga mertensiana
Also known as the mountain hemlock. This specimen is fairly young, but when mature, it can grow over 200 feet tall.

Cornus sericea
This species in these planter boxes is Cornus sericea, commonly called red-osier dogwood. Sericea comes from the Latin word for “silky,” which refers to the texture of the species’ leaves. It is native throughout Northern and Western North America. In nature, you are likely to find it growing in wetlands, where damp soil is in abundance.

Nyssa sylvatica
Commonly known as a black tupelo or black gum. This specific species is also called the green gable. If you’re on campus in the spring or summer, look for dark green, glossy leaves. In the fall, you’re in luck. This tree turns a vibrant crimson before shedding its leaves for the colder months.

Blechnum spicant
Also known as the deer fern. This evergreen fern is a unique as it has two different types of leaves, or ‘fronds’. The evergreen sterile fronds are stiff, leathery and dark green, forming a rosette shape at its base. As the season progresses, these fronds may stretch to lie on the ground. The second are the fertile fronds, which grow in an upright position at the center of the rosette. They look similar to the sterile fronds but are taller, thinner, and spread out more widely. The most distinct difference is that fertile fronds will turn brown and fall from the plant by the end of the warmer months.

Iris macrosiphon
Also called the bowltube iris. This flowering plant is native to the Cascade Foothills, north and central Sierra Nevada Foothills, and San Francisco Bay Area, where you might see it growing in sunny grasslands, meadows, and open woodlands.

Abies delavayi
Also known as the Delavay’s silver-fir. This tree is native to mountain forests in Asia, specifically China, India, and Myanmar.

Quercus sp.
This unidentified oak, like all oaks, is a member of the Quercus genus. This specific plant was gifted to Amazon Horticulture by Dan Hinkley, an American horticulturist, plantsman, and author.

Wollemia nobilis
Also known as the Wollemi pine. This evergreen tree is native to Australia and was only recently discovered in 1994.