Trees of Stanford and Environs
Trees of Stanford and Environs

    








           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.
           
          

     