Missouri Botanical Garden

Trees Planted in the Time of Henry Shaw
Five special trees identified as having been planted during Henry Shaw's lifetime (1800–1889)

Shaw Trees Garden founder Henry Shaw loved trees, writing that a person who lacks interest in trees is "robbing himself of one of the greatest sources of enjoyment that nature has placed within the reach of human kind.”

As soon as Shaw acquired the property that would become the Missouri Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park, he ordered the planting of thousands of new trees, including both native trees, as well as “exotic” species from abroad.

Under his general direction, gardeners would plant over 20,000 trees in Tower Grove Park.

Fully 25 acres of the Garden was dedicated to a collection of “such trees, native and foreign, as grew in the St. Louis climate.” In keeping with his educational mission, all were carefully labeled.

Download a map of the trees planted in the time of Henry Shaw. [2.7 mb PDF]

Bald cypress
Taxodium distichum
circa 1874

This Missouri native is common in southern swamps and lowland areas, but also performs well in soils of average moisture. In moist to wet soil conditions, it produces its characteristic “knees.” It is a cone-bearing tree that is deciduous, shedding its leaves in the fall, hence the common name of “bald” cypress. It is closely related to the dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, which completes this stately row of impressive trees. Bald cypress can live for up to 600 years or more.

Black Gum
Nyssa sylvatica
circa 1885

A Plant of Merit™, this Missouri native grows well in full sun or part shade with either medium or wet soils. Its growth habit is pyramidal when young with a more spreading or rounded crown as it ages. It is an excellent medium-sized shade, lawn, or street tree. Its fall color is spectacular, providing clear orange to scarlet hues. Bees are attracted to the plant in flower, and birds and other wildlife enjoy its fall crop of small, dark blue fruit. It can live up to 600 years.

Ginko
Ginkgo biloba
circa 1884

Native to China, ginkgo is a deciduous conifer and the only surviving member of a group of ancient plants believed to have inhabited the earth 150 million years ago. It was introduced to the United States in 1784, about 100 years before this majestic specimen was planted on the Garden grounds. Ginkgos make excellent lawn, street, or shade trees. Select male cultivars to avoid the smelly “fruits” of the females. Leaves turn a brilliant, clear yellow in autumn and fall rapidly, blanketing the ground in a carpet of gold.

Osage Orange
Maclura pomifera
circa 1850s

Shaw had these trees planted as a majestic “allée” for the approach to his home. A row of osage orange trees paralleled the roadway from Vandeventer southeast to Shaw’s country home, Tower Grove House. Today, a dozen of these trees remain, mostly visible in the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden. Their average longevity is 75 years, but individuals have lived up to 300 years. The wood is very hard and rot-resistant. Its distinctive fruit suggests a large orange, hence the common name.

Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
prior to 1819

This stand of sassafras was growing on what was otherwise a tall-grass prairie when Henry Shaw built his country home. It is the “grove” in Tower Grove House. Sassafras is native to Missouri and spreads by suckers, creating a cluster of clones. Individual trees live for an average of 100 years, but these are genetically the same tree that was here when Shaw purchased the land. The tree was the original source of the flavoring in root beer, but is now banned from use in food products as a carcinogen.