Great Trees

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

• A fast-growing tree with a majestic habit, golden fall color, reddish brown bark – fissured and exfoliating in long narrow strips – and a spectacular buttressing fluted trunk.
• This beautiful grove, now over 100 feet tall, was planted in ideal conditions – full sun and next to a stream that provides moisture.
• Once thought to have been extinct, these trees from the end of the dinosaur age were rediscovered in China through the study of fossils in the 1940s.

Ginkgo biloba

• One of the world’s oldest tree species, growing on earth for well over 150 million years.
• With striking gold fall color, this female specimen, planted by the Morrises, has messy and very smelly fruit. Non-fruiting males make excellent city trees.
• A male specimen is near the Edith Bogue magnolia

Fagus sylvatica f. pendula

• Native to Europe, planted before 1909 by the Morrises.
• Branches weep down and form roots where they touch the ground. New rings of trees grow outward as the original tree ages and dies.
• An impressive tree in all seasons with its smooth gray elephant hide-like bark, lustrous green leaves in summer, and red to golden brown fall color.
• Small holes in trunk are made by sap sucking birds.

Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’

• The straight species is native to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.
• Layered branches with blue-green needles create a picturesque landscape tree.
• Small finger-shaped male cones on lower branches pollinate attractive large beehive-shaped female cones above.

Magnolia grandiflora ‘Edith Bogue’

• This cultivar is a descendent of a tree in Edith Bogue’s New Jersey garden that survived a particularly harsh winter.
• A spectacular tree in all seasons: large lemon-scented creamy white flowers in spring/summer, bright red seeds set in velvety fall fruit, and lustrous dark evergreen leaves.
• Ornamental leaves ideal for decorative arrangements.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum

• Native to Japan and China, planted around 1902 by the Morrises.
• One of the largest of its kind in North America, this plant is the signature tree of the Arboretum.
• Bright yellow/apricot leaves in fall release a spicy cinnamon/ brown sugar aroma.

Pinus bungeana

• Native to China, this stately lacebark pine, is one of the largest in the Delaware Valley.
• Striking exfoliating bark changes color with age and moisture.
• Fine-textured foliage gives an airiness to the crown.

Cedrus libani ssp. stenocoma

• This subspecies is native to the mountains of southwest Turkey and has an upright habit.
• The straight species, known for its historic stands in Lebanon, has more wide- spreading branches.

Zelkova serrata

• Native to China, Korea and Japan, this tree has been growing at the Arboretum since the Morrises’ time.
• Often used as a street tree, it has beautiful bark, a vase shape and red-orange fall color.

Acer triflorum

• Native to northeast China and Korea,
  this small upright-spreading tree with
  flowers in clusters of three has ash brown vertically fissured bark.
• Orange-red fall color.

Tsuga canadensis f. pendula

• A rare tree, approximately 100 years old.
• This form was displayed at the Centennial Exposition at Fairmount Park.

Pinus strobus ‘Nana’

• A cultivated variety, this tree has a compact rounded habit.
• A very large example of a dwarf tree.

Abies cilicica

• Native to the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, this tree has a narrow growth habit.
• Part of our national fir collection.

Acer buergerianum

• Native to China, this specimen is larger than most trident maples.
• Three-lobed leaves, which give this tree its common name, turn yellow/orange/ red in fall.
• Handsome and adaptable tree.

Pteroceltis tatarinowii

• One of the rarest plants in the Arboretum’s collection and one of the largest of the species outside its native China.
• Beautiful yellow fall color.
• Attractive gray-brown exfoliating bark.

Ulmus parvifolia

• Native to Eastern Asia, this plant’s exfo- liating bark, fall color, and fine-textured foliage make it excellent for any landscape.
• Known for its rapid growth and durability.
• Resistant to Dutch elm disease and the elm leaf beetle.

Ulmus glabra ‘Horizontalis’

• Inspired by the Victorian fascination with weeping and contorted trees, the Morrises planted this tree sometime before 1909.
• Weeping portion of the plant was grafted high onto its 7-foot understock, forming the umbrella-like shape.
• Unusual accent tree.

Aesculus flava

• Native to eastern United States.
• Flaky bark, yellow flower clusters, and yellow-orange fall color make this a useful native alternative to the disease prone horsechestnut.
• The tree has recovered from 1991 tornado damage.

Stewartia pseudocamellia & Stewartia monadelpha

• Native to eastern Asia, these trees have
  early summer white flowers, yellow to red to burgundy leaves in fall, and attractive exfoliating bark.
• Mature height is 20 to 40 feet.

Acer griseum

• Native to western China, with outstanding cinnamon/reddish brown exfoliating bark, this is an attractive small specimen tree.
• Orange-red fall color.