Arboretum Vilmorin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Arboretum Vilmorin is a private arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

located at 2 rue d'Estienne d'Orves, Verrières-le-Buisson

Verrières-le-Buisson

Verrières-le-Buisson is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is from the center of Paris, in the Essonne department just outside the inner ring of the Île-de-France.The commune borders the Bièvre River....

, Essonne

Essonne

Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...

, Île-de-France

Île-de-France (région)

Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is open by appointment only. A newer portion of the family arboretum was acquired by the municipality in 1975, and is now open to the public as the Arboretum municipal de Verrières-le-Buisson

Arboretum municipal de Verrières-le-Buisson

The Arboretum municipal de Verrières-le-Buisson , more formally the Arboretum municipal de Verrières-le-Buisson, Réserve naturelle volontaire Roger de Vilmorin, Maison des Arbres et des Oiseaux, is a municipal arboretum located at 1, voie de l'Aulne, Verrières-le-Buisson, Essonne, Île-de-France,...

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The arboretum is located on the site of a former hunting lodge of Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

, acquired in 1815 by Philippe-André de Vilmorin (1776-1862), who also began today's Arboretum national des Barres

Arboretum national des Barres

The Arboretum national des Barres is a national arboretum located in Nogent-sur-Vernisson, Loiret, Centre, France. It is open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged....

in 1821. He transformed the lodge's grounds into a collection of trees and shrubs from around the world as missionaries and explorers sent specimens from the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

, America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

, Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

, and the Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

. Plans for the arboretum walls are attributed to André Le Nôtre

André Le Nôtre

André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France...

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Today's arboretum has been tended by seven generations of the Vilmorin family, assisted in recent years by a scientific committee. At present the arboretum contains some 2,280 identified species, with major collections of Acer

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

, Berberis

Berberis

Berberis , the barberries or pepperidge bushes, is a genus of about 450-500 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from 1-5 m tall with thorny shoots, native to the temperate and subtropical regions of Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America. They are closely related to the genus...

, Deutzia

Deutzia

Deutzia is a genus of about 60 species of shrubs in the family Hydrangeaceae, native to eastern and central Asia , and Central America and also Europe. By far the highest species diversity is in China, where 50 species occur.The species are shrubs ranging from 1–4 m in height...

, Euonymus

Euonymus

Euonymus , often called spindle or spindle tree, is a genus of flowering plants in the staff vine family, Celastraceae. It comprises about 170–180 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs and small trees...

, Malus

Malus

Malus , the apples, are a genus of about 30–35 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae. Other studies go as far as 55 species including the domesticated Orchard Apple, or Table apple as it was formerly called...

, Lonicera, Philadelphus, Quercus, and Rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

. Specimens of interest include Carya buckleyi, Cedrus libani, Chionanthus retusus
Chionanthus retusus
Chionanthus retusus is a species of Chionanthus native to eastern Asia, in eastern and central China, Korea, and Japan....

, Halesia diptera
Halesia diptera
Halesia diptera is a species in the family Styracaceae, native to the southeastern United States from South Carolina and Florida west to eastern Texas....

, Juglans x intermedia, Parrotia persica, Pinus bungeana
Pinus bungeana
Pinus bungeana is a pine tree native to northeastern and central China. It is a slow-growing tree to 15-25 m tall...

, Pseudolarix amabilis, Quercus persica, Sorbus torminalis, Taxodium ascendens
Taxodium ascendens
Taxodium ascendens, also known as Pond Cypress, is a deciduous conifer of the genus Taxodium, native to North America. Many botanists treat it as a variety of Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum Taxodium ascendens, also known as Pond Cypress, is a deciduous conifer of the genus Taxodium, native to...

, and Torreya grandis
Torreya grandis
Torreya grandis is a species of conifer in the Cephalotaxaceae family.It is found only in China. Common names include Chinese nutmeg yew .-References:...

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See also