lunes, 25 de mayo de 2009

arboletum

On 5 October 1896 Antonio Lussich bought a terrain of 4,447 acres (1,800 hectares), which extend from "Arroyo el Potrero" to "Sierra de la Ballena" and from Rio de la Plata to Laguna del Sauce, land which at that time consisted only of sand dunes and stones.
The next year Antonio Lussich started the forestry works which had as objective on one hand, to forest the dry lands in an attempt to stop the high winds that came from the ocean, and on the other, once the forest was established, to encourage
birds to inhabit it.
In order to do that, Antonio Lussich, thanks to the enterprise of maritime rescue contracts obtained all over the world, could manage to get seeds from numerous continents. He bought seeds, plants and trees from around the world and planted them around his house.
The first trees planted were:
Tamarix, Sea pines, Eucalyptus and the Acacia trinervis to resist the strong winds and sand.
During December 1979, 182
ha (450 Acres approx.) was donated to the Municipality of Maldonado and then opened to the public.
The Arboretum Lussich is one of the most important Forest Reserves in the world




Species



The Arboretum Lussich has more than 400 Exotic
species and around 70 Uruguayan species.
Between many of the
trees species, the most important are:
Abies, 6 species.
Acacia, 8 species.
Cupressus, 9 species.
Eucalyptus, 45 species.
Juniperus, 10 species.
Pinus, 20 species.
Quercus, 16 species.
Thuja, 4 species.



Abies: White Fir (Abies concolor) is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreenconiferous tree growing to 25-60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m.




Acacia
Acacia pycnantha
The genus Acacia is apparently not
monophyletic. This discovery has led to the breaking up of Acacia into five new genera as discussed in list of Acacia species.In common parlance the term "acacia" is occasionally misapplied to species of the genus Robinia, which also belongs in the pea family. Robinia pseudoacacia, an American species locally known as Black locust, is sometimes called "false acacia" in cultivation in the United Kingdom.



Cupressus: The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress (disambiguation).
As currently treated, these cypresses are native to scattered localities in mainly warm temperate regions in the northern hemisphere, including western
North America, Central America, north-west Africa, the Middle East, the Himalaya, southern China and north Vietnam. They are evergreen trees or large shrubs, growing to 5-40 m tall. The leaves are scale-like, 2-6 mm long, arranged in opposite decussate pairs, and persist for 3-5 years. On young plants up to 1-2 years old, the leaves are needle-like, 5-15 mm long. The cones are 8-40 mm long, globose or ovoid with 4-14 scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; they are mature in 18-24 months from pollination. The seeds are small, 4-7 mm long, with two narrow wings, one along each side of the seed. The genus Cupressus is one of several genera within the family Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for the others, see cypress (disambiguation).



Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus (pronounced
/ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/[2] ) is a diverse genus of flowering trees (and a few shrubs) in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, and a very small number are found in adjacent parts of New Guinea and Indonesia and one as far north as the Philippines islands. Only 15 species occur outside Australia, and only 9 do not occur in Australia. Species of Eucalyptus are cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics including the Americas, England, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China and the Indian Subcontinent.



Junipers


Junipers vary in size and shape from tall trees, 20-40 m tall, to columnar or low spreading shrubs with long trailing branches. They are evergreen with needle-like and/or scale-like leaves. They can be either monoecious or dioecious. The female seed cones are very distinctive, with fleshy, fruit-like coalescing scales which fuse together to form a "berry"-like structure, 4-27 mm long, with 1-12 unwinged, hard-shelled seeds. In some species these "berries" are red-brown or orange but in most they are blue; they are often aromatic (for their use as a spice, see juniper berry). The seed maturation time varies between species from 6-18 months after pollination. The male cones are similar to those of other Cupressaceae, with 6-20 scales; most shed their pollen in early spring, but some species pollinate in the autumn.



Pines


Pines are coniferous trees in the genus Pinus (pronounced /ˈpaɪnəs/),[1] in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.
Pines are native to most of the
Northern Hemisphere. In Eurasia, they range from the Canary Islands and Scotland east to the Russian Far East, and in the Philippines, north to just over 70°N in Norway (Scots Pine) and eastern Siberia (Siberian Dwarf Pine), and south to northernmost Africa, the Himalaya and Southeast Asia, with one species (Sumatran Pine) just crossing the Equator in Sumatra to 2°S. In North America, they range from 66°N in Canada (Jack Pine) south to 12°N in Nicaragua (Caribbean Pine). The highest diversity in the genus occurs in Mexico and California.




Quercus


The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus (pronounced /ˈkwɜrkəs/;[1] Latin "oak tree"), which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus. The genus is native to the northern hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cold latitudes to tropical Asia and the Americas.
Oaks have spirally arranged
leaves, with a lobed margin in many species; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with a smooth margin. The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on species. The "live oaks" (oaks with evergreen leaves) are not a distinct group, instead with their members scattered among the sections below


Antonio lussich


Arboretum


On 5 October 1896 he acquired 4,447 acres (18 km2) of uninhabited land at Punta Ballena. At this location he started his masterpiece, the creation of the Arboretum Lussich, a huge natural botany garden.
He owned part of his father's maritime rescue enterprise which he sold in 1917 so he could dedicate his full time to his passion.

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