Make the acquaintance of over 400 species representing 150 genera and sixty families – 43,000-plus individual trees growing on campus. The Encyclopedia of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines is based on Ron Bracewell’s Trees of Stanford and Environs.

Prominent among campus tree enthusiasts was William Russel Dudley, 1849–1911, Stanford’s first professor of botany. Dudley was instrumental in the establishment of Big Basin State Park and Pinnacles National Monument, an advocate for sustainable forestry practices, and a director of the Sierra Club. One of his many interests was California’s coniferous forests, an arboreal wonder of the world for their diversity and grandeur. A fitting memorial to Prof. Dudley is the century-old Santa Lucia fir growing between the George P. Shultz Building and Jane Stanford Way, in the remnant Encina Garden. Dudley made many trips to remote regions of the Santa Lucia Mountains to study and collect specimens of this beautiful and enigmatic tree. Stanford’s Dudley Herbarium has been integrated into the collection of the California Academy of Sciences. Read more about Professor Dudley and Stanford’s rich botanical heritage.

Senator Stanford’s preference was that no healthy oak tree be cut down on the farm, and thousands of native California oaks have been planted from the 1880s up to the present. Today, portions of the campus tree canopy are dominated by coast live oak, the most numerous tree on Stanford University lands. Valley, blue, and black oaks can also be found on central campus, the Academic Preserve, and Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. There has been loss of diversity from the original tree and shrub plantings of the 1880s and 1890s, which is well-documented for conifers. Over the past quarter century there has also been a loss of eucalypt species, from over 125 species present in the early 1970s to fifty-one today. Stanford has had in the past one of the most diverse collections of eucalypts in California and still has some mature specimens of very rare and unique trees. The superb restoration of the Arizona Garden – and its ongoing care and enhancement directed by garden coordinator Christy Smith – emphasizes the potential for a broader restoration of the remaining, intact Arboretum region.

About Us

Trees.stanford.edu is a labor of love. It honors Ron and Helen Bracewell and the groundskeepers, botanists, university planners and architects, and community volunteers who have contributed over the past century to Leland Stanford’s vision of growing an arboretum at his Palo Alto farm.

Sairus Patel and John Rawlings serve as editors (contact us).

This website, originally a SULAIR and Stanford Historical Society digital initiative, was created in 2005 by John Rawlings. We are supported by Grounds Services, part of Stanford Land, Buildings and Real Estate.

Entries have not been systematically reviewed by botanists or arborists.