The Arboretum de Villardebelle (6 hectares) is an arboretum

Arboretum

An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 specializing in conifers located in Villardebelle

Villardebelle

Villardebelle is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Population:...

, Aude

Aude

Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...

, Languedoc-Roussillon

Languedoc-Roussillon

Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five departments, and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean sea on the other side.-Geography:The region is...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The arboretum was established in 1994 on four locations across hilly terrain at an altitude of 510 to 670 meters, with stated aims including conservation of endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

, scientific study and experimentation, education, environmental protection against erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

, and aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

. It is technically a pinetum because mainly dedicated to conifers.

The site's natural vegetation includes Acer monspessulanum

Acer monspessulanum

Montpellier Maple is a species of maple native to the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Portugal in the west, to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in the east, and north to the Jura Mountains in France and the Eifel in Germany.-Description:...

, Buxus sempervirens

Buxus sempervirens

Buxus sempervirens is a flowering plant in the genus Buxus, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco, and east through the northern Mediterranean region to Turkey. Buxus colchica of western Caucasus and B...

, Corylus avellana

Corylus avellana

Corylus avellana, the Common Hazel, is a species of hazel native to Europe and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Iberia, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran. It is an important component of...

, Crataegus monogyna, Cupressus sempervirens

Cupressus sempervirens

Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean Cypress is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region, in northeast Libya, southeast Greece , southern Turkey, Cyprus, Northern Egypt, western Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Malta, Italy, western Jordan, and also a disjunct population in...

, Fraxinus excelsior, Genista

Genista

Genista is a genus of legumes which includes many species of broom. Many of these brooms are notorious as noxious weeds.Species include:*Genista aetnensis - Mount Etna broom*Genista anglica - petty whin, needle furze*Genista canariensis...

 spp., Ilex aquifolium, Juniperus communis

Juniperus communis

Juniperus communis, the Common Juniper, is a species in the genus Juniperus, in the family Cupressaceae. It has the largest range of any woody plant, throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic south in mountains to around 30°N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia.-...

, Prunus avium

Prunus avium

Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry, bird cherry, or gean, is a species of cherry, native to Europe, west Turkey, northwest Africa, and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus, and...

, Prunus spinosa

Prunus spinosa

Prunus spinosa is a species of Prunus native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa. It is also locally naturalised in New Zealand and eastern North America....

, Pteridium aquilinum

Pteridium aquilinum

Pteridium aquilinum is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions throughout much of the northern hemisphere....

, and Quercus ilex. Timber plantings in the region include Cedrus atlantica, Fagus sylvatica, Picea sitchensis, Pinus nigra laricio or calabrica, Pinus sylvestris, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Quercus.

Since 1994 the arboretum has planted over 3500 specimens, mainly from seeds, including more than 190 Gymnosperm

Gymnosperm

The gymnosperms are a group of seed-bearing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and Gnetales. The term "gymnosperm" comes from the Greek word gymnospermos , meaning "naked seeds", after the unenclosed condition of their seeds...

 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 and subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

. A further hundred species are being cultivated in the arboretum's nursery. Some specimens of interest include Araucaria araucana

Araucaria araucana

Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing to tall with a trunk diameter. The tree is native to central and southern Chile, western Argentina and south Brazil. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria...

, Calocedrus decurrens

Calocedrus decurrens

Calocedrus decurrens is a species of conifer native to western North America, with the bulk of the range in the United States, from central western Oregon through most of California and the extreme west of Nevada, and also a short distance into northwest Mexico in northern Baja California...

, Calocedrus formosana

Calocedrus formosana

Calocedrus formosana is a conifer endemic to Taiwan.-Descriptions:It is a medium-size tree to 20-25 m tall, with a trunk up to 3 m diameter...

, Cedrus atlantica, Cupressus dupreziana

Cupressus dupreziana

Cupressus dupreziana, the Saharan Cypress, is a very rare coniferous tree native to the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains in the central Sahara Desert, southeast Algeria, where it forms a unique population of trees hundreds of kilometres from any other trees. There are only 233 specimens of this critically...

, Cupressus torulosa

Cupressus torulosa

Cupressus torulosa, known as the Himalayan cypress, is a species of cypress in southern Asia.-Distribution:The Himalayan cypress is an evergreen conifer tree species is found in the Himalaya from . It is also found on limestone terrain in Sichuan China and in Vietnam.-See also:*Cupressus*Index:...

, Fitzroya cupressoides, Glyptostrobus pensilis

Glyptostrobus pensilis

Glyptostrobus pensilis, also known as Chinese Swamp Cypress, is the sole living species in the genus Glyptostrobus. It is native to subtropical southeastern China, from Fujian west to southeast Yunnan, and also very locally in northern Vietnam....

, Juniperus occidentalis

Juniperus occidentalis

Juniperus occidentalis is a shrub or tree native to the western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of 800-3,000 m .-Description:...

, Keteleeria davidiana

Keteleeria davidiana

Keteleeria davidiana is a coniferous evergreen tree native to Taiwan and southeast China, in the provinces of Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan. The tree is restricted to hills, mountains, and valleys at elevations of 200-1500 m...

, Keteleeria evelyniana

Keteleeria evelyniana

Keteleeria evelyniana is a species of conifer native to southern China, Laos and Vietnam.In mid-December 2009, a Keteleeria evelyniana located in Seattle's Washington Park Arboretum was cut down. It was thought that the unknown person who was responsible for the cutting down of the tree took it for...

, Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, critically endangered deciduous conifer tree, sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, and one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China...

, Picea chihuahuana, Pinus attenuata, Pinus elliottii, Platycladus orientalis, Prumnopitys andina

Prumnopitys andina

Prumnopitys andina , the Chilean plum yew, is an evergreen coniferous tree native to south-central Chile and a few areas in adjacent parts of westernmost Argentina from 36 to 40° South latitude...

, Saxegothaea conspicua, Sequoia sempervirens, Thujopsis dolabrata, and Widdringtonia cupressoides.