The University of Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a major 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...

 and botanical garden

Botanical garden

A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...

 in Moscow, Idaho

Moscow, Idaho

Moscow is a city in northern Idaho, situated along the Washington/Idaho border. It is the most populous city and county seat of Latah County and the home of the University of Idaho, the land grant institution and primary research university for the state...

, USA. Located within a valley south of the President's Residence on Nez Perce Drive and adjacent to the UI Golf Course

University of Idaho Golf Course

The University of Idaho Golf Course is an 18-hole public facility on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Set in the rolling hills of the Palouse, a mile east of the border with Washington, the par-72 course is at an average elevation of above sea level...

, its 63 acre (0.25495218 km²) are open to the public daily without charge.

The university's first arboretum was established over a century ago in 1910 by Prof. Charles Houston Shattuck. He began planting a 14 acres (5.7 ha) slope with hundreds of introduced trees and shrubs. His legacy, now a grove of mature trees, is one of Western North America's oldest university plantings with superior specimens of American Beech

American Beech

Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...

, California Incense-cedar, Field Maple

Field Maple

Acer campestre, common name Field Maple, is a maple native to much of Europe, north to southern Scotland , Denmark, Poland and Belarus, and also southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains...

, Eastern Hemlock

Eastern Hemlock

Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...

, and an excellent Giant Sequoia

Sequoiadendron

Sequoiadendron giganteum is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens and...

. This older arboretum is located immediately west of the UI Administration Building and north of the President's Residence.

The newer arboretum is divided into four geographical areas of plant origin: 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...

, 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...

, Eastern 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...

, and Western North America. In addition, there are sections for display plantings and a xeriscape garden. The arboretum contains 829 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...

 and 1799 taxa of trees and woody shrubs (as of 2005), with planting continuing at a sustained pace. For example, a total of 132 species and 270 taxa were planted in 2004.

Conifers, ornamental species and cultivars of pear

Pear

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....

, forsythia

Forsythia

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae . There are about 11 species, mostly native to eastern Asia, but one native to southeastern Europe. The common name is also Forsythia; the genus is named after William Forsyth.-Growth:They are deciduous shrubs typically growing to a...

, cherry

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

, crabapple

Crabapple

Crabapple is a term used for several species of Malus in the family Rosaceae, which are characterized by small sour fruit resembling familiar table apples . They are usually small trees or shrubs....

, lilac

Lilac

Syringa is a genus of about 20–25 species of flowering woody plants in the olive family , native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonly cultivated in temperate areas elsewhere....

, shrub rose, mock orange

Mock Orange

Mock Orange typically means Philadelphus, a mostly Holarctic genus of shrubs. It can also refer to:* Bursaria spinosa , a small tree from Australia...

, magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....

, tree peony

Tree peony

Tree peony can refer to any member of the plant genus Paeonia that has a woody habit, including:*Paeonia delavayi, Delavay's tree peony*Paeonia ludlowii, Ludlow's tree peony*Paeonia rockii, Rock's tree peony...

, maple

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...

, oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

, and elm

Elm

Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...

 constitute the bulk of the collection. There are also dozens of unusual specimens. Some of the less common trees for the region include Dawn Redwood

Metasequoia

Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...

 (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Camperdown Elm

Camperdown Elm

The Camperdown Elm Ulmus glabra Camperdownii is a cultivar which cannot reproduce from seed. Although still classed as a cultivar of U. glabra, the tree was considered a nothomorph of U. × hollandica var. vegeta by Green , not U...

s (Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'), and cultivars of European Beech

European Beech

Fagus sylvatica, the European Beech or Common Beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.-Natural range:...

(Fagus sylvatica).

The arboretum has many walking trails and benches; the loop distance around the arboretum is about 1.4 miles (2.3 km).