The Arboretum de la Fosse (25 hectares), sometimes known as the Parc botanique de la Fosse, is a historic, private 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...

 located in Fontaine-les-Coteaux

Fontaine-les-Coteaux

Fontaine-les-Coteaux is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department...

, Loir-et-Cher

Loir-et-Cher

Loir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...

, Centre, 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...

. It is open several days per week in the summer; an admission fee is charged.

The arboretum was established in 1751 by Alexandre-Sébastien Gérard, an advisor to Empress Josephine

Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...

 on the Château de Malmaison

Château de Malmaison

The Château de Malmaison is a country house in the city of Rueil-Malmaison about 12 km from Paris.It was formerly the residence of Joséphine de Beauharnais, and with the Tuileries, was from 1800 to 1802 the headquarters of the French government.-History:Joséphine de Beauharnais bought the...

, and is one of France's oldest arboreta. It has subsequently been owned and maintained by 7 generations of the same family, and in 1978 was the first arboretum entitled to protection by the Monuments Historiques designation.

The arboretum is notable for its mature specimens of Cedrus libani (1810), Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

cv. Lebanon (1810), Pinus laricio (1820), Pinus strobus (1820), Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...

cv. fastigiata (1825), Cephalotaxus fortunei

Cephalotaxus fortunei

Cephalotaxus fortunei, commonly called the Chinese Plum Yew, simply Plum Yew, Chinese Cowtail Pine or in Chinese as San Jian Shan , is a coniferous shrub or small tree in the plum yew family. It is native to northern Burma and China, but is sometimes grown in western gardens where it has been in...

(1880), Juniperus drupacea

Juniperus drupacea

Juniperus drupacea, the Syrian Juniper, is a species of juniper native to the eastern Mediterranean region from southern Greece , southern Turkey, western Syria, and Lebanon, growing on rocky sites from 800-1700 m altitude....

(1880), Davidia involucrata (1905), Cedrus brevifolia (1908), as well as good plantings of magnolia

Magnolia

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....

s, cornus, rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

s, and Actinidia sinensis, Carya ovata, Ceanothus

Ceanothus

Ceanothus L. is a genus of about 50–60 species of shrubs or small trees in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. The genus is confined to North America, the center of its distribution in California, with some species in the eastern United States and southeast Canada, and others extending as far south...

, Cedrus brevifolia, Cyclobalanopsis myrsinifolia, Fraxinus biltmoreana, Fraxinus paxiana, Lagerstroemia indica

Lagerstroemia indica

Lagerstroemia indica is a species in the genus Lagerstroemia in the family Lythraceae.From China, Korea and Japan, Lagerstroemia indica is an often multistemmed, deciduous tree with a wide spreading, flat topped, open habit when mature.The bark is a prominent feature being smooth, pinkinsh-gray...

, Magnolia ashei, Magnolia fraseri, Nyssa sylvatica, Parrotia persica, Quercus acuta

Quercus acuta

Quercus acuta, the Japanese Evergreen Oak, is an oak native to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China's Guizhou Province. Due to its foliage and habitat, it looks very unlike an oak....

, Quercus dentata, Quercus glandulifera, Quercus myrsinifolia

Quercus myrsinifolia

Quercus myrsinifolia is an evergreen Oak tree in the ring-cupped oaks subgenus. It has several common names, including Bamboo-leaf Oak, Chinese Evergreen Oak, and Chinese Ring-cupped Oak. Its Chinese name is 小叶青冈; pinyin:xiǎo yè qīng gāng, which means little leaf ring-cupped Oak...

, Quercus paxiana, and Quercus stellata. It also contains a number of buildings from the 18th century onwards, including an interesting dovecote

Dovecote

A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...

built in 1817.