Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park contains the largest and oldest botanical garden of Arizona.

The Arboretum was founded in the 1920s by mining entrepreneur William Boyce Thompson. Thompson had previously been with the American Red Cross in Russia, where the importance of plants was recognized as a raw material for human food, clothing and building materials. He decided to use his assets to optimize the use of vegetable raw materials; the Arboretum he left as part of his legacy. Since 1976, the Arizona State Parks Board, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum Board and the University of Arizona worry about managing. The 131 hectare site is located on U.S. Highway 60, 4 km east of Superior in Pinal County of the U.S. state of Arizona.

2008 were employed in the park 23 paid full-and part -time employees. The annual visitor numbers fluctuate 65000-75000. The park is divided into different areas in which plant collections from Australia, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean and North and South America are located. In the Arboretum grow 3,100 plants with 14,000 individual plants, including cactus 567, 299 Leguminosae, 179 Sword lily family, Liliaceae 176, 161 Myrtle, 157 Agave, 131 Compositae, Labiatae 104, 86 and 47 rose plants palm family. In Australia the department is a special instance of the red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis ). He has already been planted in 1926 and has a height of over 42 m of the largest of its kind in the United States.