Village arboretum de Vernet-les-Bains
Encyclopedia
The Village arboretum de Vernet-les-Bains is an arboretum
planted throughout the town of Vernet-les-Bains
, Pyrénées-Orientales
, Languedoc-Roussillon
, France
. It is open daily without charge.
The arboretum's beginnings can be traced to a devastating flood in 1940, with a variety of trees planted in the 1960s during restoration work. In 1992 the local primary school undertook a project to identify the tree species in town, which led to an award in 1994 from the Fondation Yves Rocher. In 1996 the municipality officially created the "village arboretum", with a statement of faith that provides (among other things) that for every child born in town, the parents will plant that child's tree.
Today the arboretum contains more than 2,000 identified tree specimens, of which about 1,000 are labeled, representing 274 taxa
. The town is divided into sections, each about 100 m² in area, with an identification sign for each keyed to the trees in that section.
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...
planted throughout the town of Vernet-les-Bains
Vernet-les-Bains
Vernet-les-Bains is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It is a centre for visitors and holidaymakers. The village enjoys a sunny climate and is set in a sheltered valley in the foothills of the Canigou mountain - which rises to a height of 2,785 metres...
, Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...
, 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...
. It is open daily without charge.
The arboretum's beginnings can be traced to a devastating flood in 1940, with a variety of trees planted in the 1960s during restoration work. In 1992 the local primary school undertook a project to identify the tree species in town, which led to an award in 1994 from the Fondation Yves Rocher. In 1996 the municipality officially created the "village arboretum", with a statement of faith that provides (among other things) that for every child born in town, the parents will plant that child's tree.
Today the arboretum contains more than 2,000 identified tree specimens, of which about 1,000 are labeled, representing 274 taxa
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
. The town is divided into sections, each about 100 m² in area, with an identification sign for each keyed to the trees in that section.