The John Anderson Arboretum

John A. Anderson, my grandfather, was an avid deer hunter, farmer, arborist and most notably a conservationist. In his lifetime he wrote two books ‘The Eye of the Hunter’ & ‘Fiordland Memories’ which talks about his work in the Fiordland and the impact that the deer he was hunting had on the underbrush and on the native species. If you were a keen hunter in the late 20th century or a botanist who frequented the Fiordland national park you would have known this man, he contributed to the discovery of a several new species including a couple of Celmisia (New Zealand Aster) and helped various botanist rediscover species that had not been found for years. With around 45 years of experience over 63 different trips into the Wapiti area of the Fiordlands, his knowledge of the area and his understanding of hunting was second to none which gave birth to these books discussing the future of hunting and conservation in the Fiordlands.

In 1978, when John travelled to Canada to visit one of his daughters Elizabeth, he was captivated by their forests and the majesty of their subalpine trees. On return to New Zealand he became sick and was in hospital for 2 weeks, while there he was given a copy of A. F. Mitchell’s ‘Trees of Britain and Northern Europe’. Being impacted by this book so much, he wrote to all his contacts world wide, and started requesting conifer seed, this became the starting point of his grand arboretum. The two arboretum areas total around 6ha, which have since been put under a covenant and into the John Anderson Arboretum Trust to ensure that it will persist well after his passing in April of 2000. They consist of 260 species of conifer from the northern hemisphere, this includes places as far reaching as Tibet, Northern Sicily and Northern Canada to name a few. The arboretum list was sprawled over notepads and random typewriter papers, some of which were misidentified or poorly translated by my grandfather, however this was a fair shout considering this was a pre internet era. So I have tried my best to correct some of the errors and the new list will be after the below pictures.

Some of the more rare conifers in the arboretum are as follows;

1. Calocedrus (Incense cedar 1 of 3 known species)
2. Chamaecyparis (False cypress 1 of 6 known species)
3. Cryptomeria (“hidden parts” 1 of 1 known japanese cedar)
4. Cunninghamia (Chinese fir 1 of 2 known species)
5. Keteleeria (David Keteleeria 1 of 3 known species)
6. Metasequoia (Dawn redwoods 1 of 1 known species)
7. Sciadopitys (Umbrella pine 1 of 1 known species)

If you would like to visit the arboretum it’s completely free, see details below the images. The trees are still growing as in terms of time it’s still relatively new, with the majority around 30+ years old so there is plenty of time left for them to thrive.

Address: Chamberlain Road, Albury.

Link to website: Timaru – John Anderson Arboretum – QEII (qeiinationaltrust.org.nz)

A full list of the inventory of the arboretum;

Botanical Name	English Name
Araucaria araucana	Monkey Puzzle
Abies alba	European silver fir
Abies amabilis	Pacific silver fir
Abies balsamea	Balsam fir
Abies bornmuelleriana	Bornmueller fir
Abies bracteata	Santa Lucia fir
Abies cephalonica	Greek fir
Abies chensiensis	Shensi fir
Abies chensiensis var. salouenesis	Salween fir
Abies chensiensie var. yulongxueshanensis	Yulongxue shan fir
Abies cilicica	Cilician fir
Abies coahuilensis	Coahuilan fir
Abies concolor	Colorado white fir
Abies concolor var. lowiana	Pacific white fir
Abies delavayi var. delavayi	Delavay fir
Abies delavayi var. fabri	Faber fir
Abies delavayi var. forrestii	Forrest fir
Abies delavayi var. georgei	George forest fir
Abies equi-trojani	Trojan fir
Abies fargesii	Farges fir
Abies firma	Momi fir
Abies fraseri	Fraser fir
Abies grandis	Grand fir
Abies holophylla	Manchurian fir
Abies homolepis	Nikko fir
Abies kawakamii	Taiwan fir
Abies koreana	Korean fir
Abies lasiocarpa	Subalpine fir
Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica	Corkbark fir
Abies magnifica	Red fir
Abies magnifica var. shastensis	Mount Shasta fir
Abies mariesii	Maries fir
Abies marocana	Moroccan fir
Abies nebrodensis	Silician fir
Abies nephrolepis	Khinghan fir
Abies nordmanniana	Caucasian fir
Abies numidica	Algerian fir
Abies pindrow	Pindrow fir
Abies pindrow var. brevifolia	West Himalayan fir
Abies pinsapo	Hedgehog fir
Abies pinsapo var. glauca	Blue hedgehog fir
Abies procera	Noble fir
Abies procera var. glauca	Blue noble fir
Abies recurvata	Min fir
Abies religiosa	Sacred fir
Abies sachalinensis	Sakhalin fir
Abies sibirica	Siberian fir
Abies spectabilis	Himalayan fir
Abies sutchuenensis	Szechwan fir
Abies veitchii	Veitch fir
Abies vejari	Vejar fir
Calocedrus decurrens	Incense cedar
Cedrus atlantica	Atlas cedar
Cedrus atlantica var. glauca	Blue Atlas cedar
Cedrus brevifolia	Cyprus cedar
Cedrus deodara	Deodar cedar
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis	Nootka cypress
Chamaecyparis obtusa	Hinoki cypress
Chamaecyparis pisifera	Sawara cypress
Cryptomeria fortunei	Fortune cedar
Cryptomeria japonica	Japanese cedar
Cunninghamia lanceolata	Chinese fir
Cunninghamia konishii	Taiwan cunninghamia
Cupressus funebris	Mourning cypress
Cupressus nevadensis	Piute cypress
Fokienia hodginsii	Fokienia
Juniperus deppeana	Alligator juniper
Juniperus monosperma	One-seed juniper
Juniperus occidentalis	Western juniper
Juniperus osteosperma	Utah juniper
Juniperus scopulorum	Rocky Mtn. Juniper
Juniperus virginiana	Eastern red cedar
Keteleeria davidiana	David keteleeria
Keteleeria evelyniana	Evelyn keteleeria
Larix decidua	European larch
Larix gmelinii	Dahurian larch
Larix gmelinii var. olgensis	Olga Bay larch
Larix kaempferi	Japanese larch
Larix laricina	Tamarack
Larix lyallii	Subalpine larch
Larix occidentalis	Western larch
Larix potaninii	Potanin larch
Larix principis-rupprechtii	Prince Rupprecht larch
Metasequoia glyptostroboides	Dawn redwood
Picea abies	Norway spruce
Picea asperata	Dragon spruce
Picea brachytyla	Sargent spruce
Picea breweriana	Brewer spruce
Picea crassifolia	Qinghai spruce
Picea engelmannii	Engelmann spruce
Picea glauca	White spruce
Picea jezoensis	Jezo spruce
Picea jezoensis var. hondoensis	Hondo spruce
Picea jezoensis var. microsperma	Nth. Korean spruce
Picea koraiensis	Korean spruce
Picea koyamae	Koyama spruce
Picea likiangensis	Likian spruce
Picea likiangensis var. balfouriana	Balfour spruce
Picea likiangensis var. purpurea	Purple-cone spruce
Picea mariana	Black spruce
Picea mariana var. aurea	Golden Black spruce
Picea meyeri	Meyer spruce
Picea obovata	Siberian spruce
Picea omorika	Serbian spruce
Picea orientalis	Oriental spruce
Picea polita	Tigertail spruce
Picea pungens	Colorado spruce
Picea pungens var. glauca	Blue spruce
Picea schrenkiana	Schrenk spruce
Picea schrenkiana var. tienschanica	Tien shan spruce
Picea sitchensis	Sitka spruce
Picea smithiana	Morinda spruce
Picea spinulosa	Sikkim spruce
Picea wilsonii	Wilson spruce
Pinus albicaulis	Whitebark pine
Pinus aristata	Bristlecone pine
Pinus armandii	Armand pine
Pinus armandii var. mastersiana	Masters pine
Pinus attenuata	Knobcone pine
Pinus ayacahuite	Mexican white pine
Pinus bhutanica	Bhutan pine
Pinus bungeana	Lacebark pine
Pinus canariensis	Canary Island pine
Pinus contorta var. latifolia	Lodgepole pine
Pinus contorta var. murrayana	Mtn. Lodgepole pine
Pinus cooperi	Cooper pine
Pinus coulteri	Coulter pine
Pinus densata	Goshan pine
Pinus densiflora	Japanese red pine
Pinus edulis	Rocky Mtn. Pinyon
Pinus flexilis	Foxtail pine
Pinus greggii	Gregg pine
Pinus hwangshanensis	Huangshan pine
Pinus jeffreyi	Jeffreyi pine
Pinus kesiya var. langbianensis	Khasi pine
Pinus koraiensis	Korean nut pine
Pinus leucodermis	Bosnian pine
Pinus massoniana	Masson pine
Pinus montezumae	Montezuma pine
Pinus monticola	Western white pine
Pinus mugo	Mountain pine
Pinus nigra var. laricio	Corsican black pine
Pinus palustris	Longleaf pine
Pinus parviflora	Japanese white pine
Pinus patula	Weeping pine
Pinus pinaster	Maritime pine
Pinus pinea	Stone pine
Pinus ponderosa	Western yellow pine
Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum	Mtn. Ponderosa pine
Pinus radiata	Monterey pine
Pinus sabiniana	Digger pine
Pinus strobus	Eastern white pine
Pinus sylvestris	Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica	Scots pine
Pinus taeda	Loblolly pine
Pinus tabuliformis	Chinese red pine
Pinus thunbergii	Japanese black pine
Pinus uncinata	Mountain pine
Pinus wallichiana	Blue pine
Pinus yunnanensis	Yunnan pine
Pseudolarix amabilis	Golden larch
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. caesia	Fraser River Douglas fir
Sequoia sempervirens	Coastal redwood
Sequoiadendron giganteum	Sierra redwood
Sciadopitys verticillata	Japanese umbrella pine
Taxodium distichum	Swamp cypress
Taxodium mucronatum	Mexican swamp cypress
Taxus brevifolia	Pacific yew
Thuja occidentalis	White cedar
Thuja plicata	Western red cedar
Thujopsis dolabrata	False/Hiba cedar
Tsuga canadensis	Eastern hemlock
Tsuga canadensis var. microphylla	Small Eastern hemlock
Tsuga caroliniana	Carolina hemlock
Tsuga chinensis	Chinese hemlock
Tsuga Chinensis var. chekiangensis	Chekiang hemlock
Tsuga diversifolia	Japanese hemlock
Tsuga dumosa	Himalayan hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla	Western hemlock
Tsuga mertensiana	Mountain hemlock
Tsuga sieboldii	Japanese hemlock

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Written by Kieran O’Neill