Plants and Trees

The Sac State campus has a vast array of plants, both native and introduced, on the campus itself and nearby along the American River Parkway. 

I have grouped these plants into three categories, depending on location: main campus, arboretum and American River Parkway.

Main Campus

Keep in mind that prior to 1951, the area which is now the campus was an agricultural field with plantings of peaches and hops. The fields were cleared leaving nothing but dust, mud and soil. As such, all of the lush vegetation which you see now has grown since then, often with the guiding hands of dedicated groundskeepers and biologists.  The plants on campus are a mixture of native species and various non-natives. There are over 3000 trees on campus!  Sacramento State is officially designated as a "Tree Campus USA". 

Arboretum

The Arboretum is located in the north-west corner of campus and is a spectacular assemblage of trees, shrubs and other plants from around the world. Here you will find not only native species, such as some very large Califormoa redwoods, but also exotic species such as the xxx tree from Australia. There is a fine selection of conifers allowing you to appreciate the subtle differences between species from America, Europe and Asia.

American River Parkway

California has a spectacular array of native plants.  Indeed, one quarter of all the plant species found in the US and Canada are found in California.  This includes roughly 5000 native species and another thousand introduced species. Remarkably, of the natives, about 1500 are endemic, meaning that they are found no where else (Ornduff et al. 2003).

References

Ornduff, R., P.M. Faber and T. Keeler-Wolf (2003) Introduction to California Plant Life (Revised Edition). University of California Press, Berkeley.