The Arboretum d'Harcourt (11 hectares) is a historic 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 on the grounds of the 14th-century Château d'Harcourt

Château d'Harcourt

The Château d'Harcourt, situated in the commune of Harcourt in the Eure département of France, is a masterpiece of medieval architecture...

 in Harcourt

Harcourt, Eure

Harcourt is a commune in the Eure department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Population:-Sights:*Château d'Harcourt - a medieval-built château with the oldest arboretum in France.*Arboretum d'Harcourt-External links:*...

, Eure

Eure

Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure.- History :Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

, Haute-Normandie

Haute-Normandie

Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...

, 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...

.

The arboretum is one of the oldest in France, dating to 1802 when Louis-Gervais Delamare acquired the castle and its grounds. He introduced pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 cultivation on 200 hectares. After his death in 1827 the arboretum was bequeathed to the Société royale d'agriculture, which in 1833 charged botanist François André Michaux

François André Michaux

François André Michaux was a French botanist, son of André Michaux. He accompanied his father to the United States, and his Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale contains the results of his explorations and gives an account of the distribution and the scientific...

 to establish the arboretum. In 1852 North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n species were planted, followed from 1855-1860 by those of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. Since 1999 the arboretum has been the property of the Conseil Général du l'Eure, and today contains more than 3,000 woody plants representing about 470 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. The chateau's grounds also contain a 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) forest of native and exotic species, with walking paths.