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.
