Giant Arborvitae or Western Red Cedar
Thuja plicata

The Greek thuja refers to this conifer’s sweet-smelling wood, the Latin plicata to its folded or plaited leaves. In its native Pacific Northwest this tree will reach heights of 200 feet; here, 50 to 70 feet is the norm. Native Americans used its light, exceptionally durable wood for totem poles, canoes and lodges; now we make shingles from it to side our homes.

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Quercus bicolor
Bicolor refers to the contrast between the leaf surfaces—shiny dark green above, velvety-white below. As its name implies, swamp white oak prefers moist, wet soil. Note the drooping lower branches, the horizontal middle ones, and the erect upper ones. Swamp oaks may live up to 200 years. This tree was planted about 1880.

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Betula nigra
This is the birch of swamps, streambeds and river bottoms of the Eastern United States. River Birches love water and often in the spring their roots stand for several weeks covered in it, hence its name. Betula is the classical name for birch; nigra, refers to its mature bark color. It is the only birch whose fruits mature the following year, in the spring. The arborists’ 2002 Tree of the Year, our specimen is over 100 years old.

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Sciadopitys verticillata
This was one of many new specimens president Clark brought to Amherst from Hokkaido. Scale-like needles along the stems and the whorls of flattened needles around them create an umbrella effect. A slow growing tree, in 2000 it was 50 feet tall, far taller than its typical 20 to 30 feet. Its dense pyramidal shape is unlike that of its better-known European cousin that opens umbrella-like at the crown; this endows it with a unique beauty.

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Larix leptolepis
This specimen of what’s considered the finest and the fastest growing of the cultivated larches was the champion tree in Massachusetts in 1974 with a recorded height of 62 feet. The deciduous conifer’s needles take on a light yellow-tan color before dropping in the fall. Pyramidal in shape, this species of larch makes “a statement of grace combined with strength,” as one observer put it.

 

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Fagus sylvatica laciniata
Professor Maynard planted this member of the European beech family (and close relative to the American beech) in the late 1870s. Widely found in the United States this tree is distinguished from its purple cousin by its serrated foliage, which gives it a lacy appearance. Professor Maynard chose well. These beeches are three of the best-known and loved trees on campus.

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Ginkgo biloba
Long-prized in China and more recently in the West for its medicinal properties, the Gingko is easily recognized by its bright-green fan-shaped leaves. It has survived largely because Buddhist monks in China and Japan adopted it as a sacred tree. Its seeds are considered a delicacy when ripe; on decomposing, however, they are famously malodorous.

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Fagus sylvatica atropunica
Also called copper beech, this species, native to central and southern Europe, has purplish-bronze and copper-colored foliage. Professor Samuel T. Maynard planted these two fine examples between 1877 and 1890. In 1974 the west tree had a circumference of 190 inches, the east tree, 195. Many generations of UMass Amherst students have studied under their canopies and carved initials in the bark.

 

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Magnolia acuminata
Magnolias are known for their large leaves and flowers, unusual looking fruit, and their beauty. The leaves, 7 to 10 inches long, are sharply pointed, hence the description, acuminata. Discovered in Virginia in the 1730s, this species has been cultivated ever since. New to Europe, it was prized in England and France in the Colonial period.

 

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Fagus sylvatica pendula
The pendula in the scientific name stands for the hanging or “weeping” branches of a plant some consider the most beautiful tree in the world. Our specimen, planted in 1975, commands the attention of passersby with its tent-like mass; its girth and height are almost the same.

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Ulmus japonica
In 1890, William Penn Brooks brought this outstanding specimen, the first of its kind, from Sapporo Agricultural College in Hokkaido, Japan, a school founded by the third president of Massachusetts Agricultural College, William Smith Clark. In 1997, its circumference measured 147 inches, its height 83 feet, and its spread, 75 feet. Its rating (C+H+S/4) was 249, earning it the champion title for all of America.

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Juglans nigra
Widely harvested because of its fine wood (and for that reason, rather rare), Juglans, a contraction of Jovis glans, designates the nut or acorn of Jupiter, king of the gods. Nigra may refer to the black bark, the rich brown wood, or the dark outer shell of the nut. Everything on this tree is used; its fruit is a valuable food source for animals. This Class of 1894 tree is an excellent specimen.

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Nyssa sylvatica
Nyssa refers to a Greek water nymph while sylvatica designates the Tupelo as “of the woodlands.” Not surprisingly, the tree thrives in moist woodlands and is often used as an ornamental. Sometimes referred to as the “Beetle-bung” tree, its tough wood is used to seal bungholes. In the fall its brilliant orange and red leaves are unsurpassed. This specimen is the 1905 Class Tree.

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Quercus borealis
Quercus, an ancient Latin name, is likely of Celtic origin, meaning “beautiful tree.” Borealis identifies it as “of the north.” The red-hued wood of this, the fastest growing oak, is often used in flooring in homes. This is the 1900 Class Tree, hence its designation as Century Oak.

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Quercus acutissima
Native to China, Japan and Korea, this oak was the 1938 Class Tree of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. Its serrated leaves, from which it takes its common name, look more like a chestnut tree than an oak; in fact,  it is related to both chestnuts and beeches. Note the broad lower branches that this oak, unlike other trees, tends to retain. Birds and other animals make use of its large, abundant acorns.

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Quercus alba
The White Oak is king of all the oaks. The large tree’s broad-spreading horizontal branches are noteworthy, as is its longevity; individual trees have been known to be 800 years old. Because its glossy leaves have five to nine rounded lobes, it is the easiest oak to identify. Found in all states east of the Mississippi and several states to the river’s west, its wood is used widely in flooring, furniture and barrels.

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Ulmus americana
Dutch elm disease, for which no cure has been found, has wreaked havoc on this classic vase-shaped ornamental. Once widely used, very few have survived. This is the last elm of those planted for each member of the class of 1872 on both sides of the former Olmsted Drive extending from South College to the bridge at the head of the pond.

 

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Styrax japonicus
Although non-native and planted more widely in the South, this tree does well in southern New England. When mature the slow-growing tree reaches a height of 20 to 30 feet. In late May or early June it produces showy white flower clusters that droop, bell-like, from its branches, attracting bees by the score.

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Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Thought extinct before it was discovered in Central China in the 1940s, this beautifully named and stately tree is said to be “our oldest living fossil,” a mere 15 million years old. A deciduous conifer, its soft ‘leaves’ resemble evergreen needles but unlike them, turn a brilliant orange-red before shedding in the fall.

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