“The Hoyt Arboretum is a great place to interface with nature at a recreational level but we are also preserving many endangered and extinct species for future researchers and the public.”   

~Cynthia Haruyama, former Executive Director, Hoyt Arboretum Friends

Work done by scientists, students and researchers using the resources of Hoyt Arboretum:

 ~ Hong Yang from Bryant University in Rhode Island is conducting research on the evolutionary history of Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood).  He was looking for a living leaf sample that originated from seed stock collected from China in the late 1940s.  Using the Hoyt’s plant database, Hoyt Curator Dan Moeller was able to locate the specimen and send the scientist a few leaf samples.

 ~ Kevin Potter from North Carolina State University is studying the genetic relationships among species of true firs (Abies), the second largest genus in the pine family.  On a recent visit to Portland he was impressed with the wide variety of fir trees the Hoyt had in its collection.   With the help of Curator Dan Moeller,  Potter was able to take foliage samples from about a dozen fir species not native to the U.S.

            “I can’t emphasize enough how difficult it can be to access samples of fir trees that grow in such isolated and far-flung places as the Himalayas and Morocco.  Without places like the Hoyt, it would have taken me decades to find 40-50 fir species in their natural stands in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Central America.”

~ Kevin Potter, North Carolina State University

 ~ In Oregon, scientists from Oregon State University, Portland State University, Oregon Graduate Institute, Oregon Department of Forestry and Xplant Laboratory, Inc., are using the Hoyt Arboretum for research.

 ~ Glenn Kohler, a graduate student at Oregon State University, has been studying a defoliating pest infesting eastern hemlock called hemlock woolly adelgid (HWD).  HWA is listed as an invasive species and is killing trees in the eastern U.S. in great numbers.  He has discovered that western hemlocks in the Arboretum contain predators that feed on HWA thus protecting the trees from harm.  Kohler hopes these predators could be used to control HWA in eastern hemlocks.

 ~ Dr. Carol Wilson of the Portland State University biology department used the Hoyt’s plant collection to teach the laboratory section of her Plant Systematics course.  Samples of leaves and flowers from the collection were used throughout the quarter for students to dissect in class.

~ Xplant Laboratory is a tissue culture laboratory specializing in the custom propagation of unusual and rare species.  Xplant turned to the Hoyt because they were not able to find specific plants anywhere else in the state.

            “The Hoyt has provided us with a source for stock plant material.  It also serves as a great example of adult plant morphology and species comparison.  We found many unique plants and were able to quickly see several similar species growing side by side for comparison.”  

            ~ Frans Scholin, Xplant Laboratory