Arboretum

About Us

Hofstra University's Arboretum is part and parcel of the entire 240 acre campus.

Every tree, every brick and every blade of grass is intended to enhance the educational experience.

What was once a section of treeless Hempstead plains, and later Mitchell Airfield Base during World War II, is now an area blooming with over 11,000 trees.

During the late 1970s and 1980s, President Emeritus, James M. Shuart enacted a program to beautify the campus in an effort to rid Hofstra of its "concrete jungle" status, given by a critique in a popular newspaper at that time.

Seedling evergreens were planted en masse, and the greening began. From these ubiquitous Black Pine Tree plantings, a lesson in diversity was learned, and trees of various genera could now be found growing side by side, and the true arboretum was born.

The arboretum was officially recognized in 1985, with Hofstra's membership in the prestigious American Association of Botanical gardens and Arboreta (AABA).

Today, Long Island's largest Chinese Quince Tree, measuring in at 42 feet, grows in the center of Hofstra's Roosevelt Quad, and Long Island's third largest Katsura Tree, with a girth of over 14 feet, stands majestically at the south side of Heger Hall.

The term, arboretum, means "a place where woody plants (trees, shrubs and vines) are grown for study and display.

There are currently over 580 distinct varieties of trees growing in the Hofstra collection, and what makes Hofstra University Arboretum unique is the integration of this landscape with over 70 sculptures; including works by Henry Moore, Seymour Lipton and Paul Manship.

Come grow with us!

For a Powerpoint slideshow on the Arboretum, click HERE.

For more information on the Arboretum, click HERE.