10 Things: Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum
How many of these facts about Rice's campuswide arboretum do YOU know?
Winter 2025
By Autumn Horne '22
Rice is home to the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum, which spans the entire campus and serves as a hands-on teaching and research resource for the university. The arboretum honors Lynn R. Lowrey (1917–1997), a Houston horticulturist who was known for his passion for plant collecting and naturalistic approach to landscaping, a philosophy that was far ahead of its time. Established in 1999, the arboretum marked its 25th anniversary this November with an event celebrating this ecological resource and launching a project to restore one of Rice’s most untamed spaces — the Harris Gully Natural Area.
1. There are around 125 species and 4,600 individual trees in the arboretum, including oaks, elms and pines native to Texas and Mexico.
2. Bioscientist Cassidy Johnson ’11, interim director of the arboretum, sees the arboretum — or urban forest — as a source of creativity and learning: “How many great ideas have people come up with while sitting under a tree?”
3. Rice arborists Dawn Roth-Ehlinger and Maria Lopez work with Johnson to keep a tree inventory and management plan.
4. The arboretum plants a tree each year in celebration of Arbor Day. For Arbor Day 2024, the arboretum planted an anacua (or knockaway) tree.
5. Famous campus trees include the “moon tree,” a loblolly pine grown from seeds taken to space on the Apollo 14 mission, and the Harris County champion post oak, the largest of its kind in the county with a 158- inch circumference.
6. The native trees play a vital role in supporting local biodiversity, attracting over 700 different insect species, which in turn draw birds and other wildlife.
7. The arboretum’s many live oaks are powerful vehicles for carbon sequestration. They play a key role in supporting Rice’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
8. This spring, Rice undergraduates will update the arboretum’s campus tree map as part of a research project.
9. Geologist and bird expert Cin-Ty Lee has identified 275 species of birds on campus, about 90% of which are migratory birds using the arboretum as a “rest stop.”
10. The Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum is open to anyone in the community to explore and enjoy.
Learn more at arboretum.rice.edu.