Top 10 sexiest plants at Purdue
With more than 40,000 plants on the West Lafayette campus, being selected as one of the sexiest is quite an honor. But who is keeping track of who is hot and who is not this season? … The Purdue Arboretum.
The arboretum monitors the plant life throughout 2,552 acres, which includes 779 types of trees, shrubs, and vines. All of these plants are highlighted in an online interactive database — the Purdue Arboretum Explorer. This database enables mobile device users to quickly locate and learn about the plants through QR codes. Users can scan the code on a plant or landscape feature label, link to that plant’s page on the website, and learn about its unique features.
If a plant is going to make the Purdue top 10 list, then being unique is just the beginning. The plant has to be the perfect specimen, and the arboretum interns were up to the task to identify those plants that they have observed to be the best of the best for their particular species.
“All of the plants on campus are special to us — it is very difficult to choose the best. It’s like asking what’s your favorite pie … very difficult to choose,” says Paul Siciliano, professor of horticulture and landscape architecture and the arboretum’s director.
“However, these plants are very recognizable, and I think visitors will enjoy the beauty of what we have selected to showcase,” he says.
But this list is just the beginning of what the Purdue Arboretum has to offer nature lovers on campus and online. By pulling up arboretum.purdue.edu, visitors can enter the name of any plant and the search results will unveil if and where the plant is located on campus and provide detailed information about the plant. Additional resources include the ability to search green initiatives, suggested walking tours and trails, and art and landscape features. You can even find out when the next Tree Talk will take place. It is a chance to hear from a student or professor about the history of a tree on campus.
“It is an opportunity to reach out not only to our students and researchers but to the public so they can interact with nature and better appreciate the plants,” says Siciliano.
These resources are the work of arboretum students who map the location of the plants throughout campus, install plant signage, take pictures, and enter details into the database. Although a tremendous task, it is a labor of love.
“When I came to Purdue, I found public horticulture and loved the idea of preserving and providing green spaces in urban settings so others can have a connection with nature,” says Bryce Patz (A’15), collection manager with the arboretum since 2013. “Because of my experiences and skills I have gained at the Purdue Arboretum, I became a summer intern in 2014 at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, which has greatly influenced my career path in the arboreta world. After graduating with a master’s in water and soil management, I plan to take an administrative role at an arboretum or garden.”
For Siciliano, that is what it is all about. “The best part of this project is the hard work and dedication of the students. They are the reason behind the success.”
If you come back to campus this fall, carve out some time to celebrate this success. Bring your map and check out these 10 plants that are points of pride for the students and the Purdue Arboretum. Sexy may be a stretch from your point of view, but an appreciation for their passion and inspiration is sure to resonate with your inner student.
Plants of Honor
Through the Purdue Arboretum Explorer, arboretum.purdue.edu, you can search dedicated or memorial plants on campus. For example, Karen and Jerry Ross (ME’70, MS ME’72, HDR’00) planted a sycamore tree in 1990 that was germinated in outer space and is in honor of the 1989 Diamond Anniversary of Extension Service.