Plant Database

Much of the value of Hoyt Arboretum’s trees and collections are invisible to the naked eye. When you look at one of the Arboretum’s dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), you may see a tree that looks exactly like others planted elsewhere. However, most of the trees at Hoyt Arboretum have a proven provenance, meaning they were grown from seeds collected in the wild and the Arboretum has documentation on where and when the seeds were collected. This means that scientists wanting to do research on native dawn redwoods, for example, which are otherwise found only in a small, remote valley in central China, can use Hoyt’s trees for data and specimens.

To maintain the provenance of the plants, Hoyt Arboretum has kept records continuously since the first seeds were propagated at Mt. Tabor’s nursery beginning in 1914. Early records were kept on index cards. Dedicated volunteers converted these records to a computerized database in the early 1980s.

Thanks to a grant from the J. Frank Schmidt Foundation and a partnership with Leach Botanical Garden and Portland Parks & Recreation, we have an online plant database that is easy for all interested parties to use.

Today, approximately 6,300 plants can be found in the database. Each entry contains information (if available) on family, genus, species, common name, variety, cultivar, provenance, specific location in Hoyt Arboretum, and selected photos of the actual arboretum specimen. The database allows the user to search for plants by family genus, species, common name and location in the arboretum.

Use the button below to access the online version of the Hoyt Arboretum Plant Database. The link will take you away from the Hoyt Arboretum website and connect you with our Garden Explorer database of trees and plants.