Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
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Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
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 Boyce Thompson Arboretum |
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| location | Pinal County in Arizona (USA) | |
| surface | 131 ha | |
| Geographical location | 33 ° 17 ' N , 111 ° 9' W | |
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| Setup date | 1976 | |
| administration | Arizona State Parks & Trails | |
The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park contains the largest and oldest botanical garden of Arizona .
The arboretum was founded in the 1920s by mining entrepreneur William Boyce Thompson . Thompson had previously been to Russia with the American Red Cross and recognized the great importance of plants as a raw material for human food, clothing and building materials. He decided to use his fortune to optimize the use of vegetable raw materials; he left the arboretum as part of his legacy. The Arizona State Parks Board, Boyce Thompson Arboretum Board, and the University of Arizona have taken care of the administration since 1976 . The 131 acre site is located on US Highway 60 , 4 km west of Superior in Pinal County , Arizona.
In 2008, the park employed 23 full-time and part-time employees. The annual number of visitors varies between 65,000 and 75,000. The park is divided into different areas, in which there are collections of plants from Australia, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean area as well as from North and South America. 3,100 plant species with 14,000 individual plants grow in the arboretum, including 567 cacti , 299 legumes , 179 irises , 176 lilies , 161 myrtle plants , 157 agave plants , 131 sunflower plants , 104 mint plants , 86 rose plants and 47 palm plants . In the Australia department there is a special specimen of the red eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ). It was planted as early as 1926 and is the largest of its kind in the United States at over 42 m tall.
Web links
- Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park at Arizona State Parks & Trails
- http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/index.html