The Crosby Arboretum is located in

Picayune, Mississippi Picayune ( ) is the largest city in Pearl River County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 11,885 at the 2020 census. The city is located approximately from New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and Gulfport–Biloxi. The Stennis Space Cen ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and is affiliated with

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

. It contains 64 acres (259,000 m²) in its interpretive center, plus over 700 acres (2.8 km²) in seven additional natural areas, sheltering over 300 species of indigenous trees and shrubs.

History and landscape

The Arboretum project was initiated by Lynn Crosby Gammill and her husband Stewart Gammill along with her brother Osmond Crosby to honor their father, L. O. Crosby, Jr. (1907–1978), by conserving the region's biological diversity and showcasing plants native to the

Pearl River The Pearl River (, or ) is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong ( ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. The seven natural areas in Pearl River, Hancock, and Lamar counties were selected for diversity of vegetation, and are preserved and managed for research. These areas contain

longleaf pine The longleaf pine (''Pinus palustris'') is a pine species native to the Southeastern United States, found along the coastal plain from East Texas to southern Virginia, extending into northern and central Florida. In this area it is also known as ...

forests, slash pine

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

s, sweet bay-

tupelo Tupelo commonly refers to: * Tupelo (tree), a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves * Tupelo, Mississippi, the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi Tupelo may also refer to: Places * Tupelo, Arka ...

swamp bay ''Persea palustris'', also known as swamp bay or swampbay, is a small tree or shrub found throughout the Southeastern United States and the Bahamas, with much of its range overlapping with that of its relative ''Persea borbonia''. It is generally ...

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

bald cypress ''Taxodium distichum'' (baldcypress, bald-cypress, bald cypress, swamp cypress; ; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a w ...

, bottomland hardwoods, hillside

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

s, and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

s. *Hillside Bog – 70 acres (283,000 m²) of highly diverse habitat in northern Hancock County, including a hillside

, sweetbay-tupelo-swampbay, and longleaf pine-scrub oak. * Dead Tiger Creek Hammock – 20 acres (81,000 m²) of a low, non-alluvial, hardwood swamp, home to a variety of species including ''

Coreopsis ''Coreopsis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include calliopsis and tickseed, a name shared with various tickseed, other plants. Description These plants range from in height. The flowers are usually ye ...

nudata'' and '' Macranthera flammea''. * Dead Tiger Creek Savanna – 20 acres (81,000 m²) including a pine ridge, sloping bog area with several

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of pitcher plant are considered to be "true" pitcher plants and are formed by specialized ...

bogs that contain

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s and insect eating plants, and a flat savanna, containing most of the Mississippi

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

species and 2 species of pitcher plant. * Red Bluff – 320 acres (1.3 km²) along Catahoula Creek, with a clear-water stream, sandy white beaches, oxbow lakes, titi-lined creek banks, open sandy areas, gum swamps, and dry pine woods. * Talowah – 120 acres (486,000 m²) of

ridges, maintained by periodic burning, with hardwoods along the branch bottoms. * Mill Creek – 20 acres (81,000 m²) of mature beech-magnolia woodland. All five species of magnolia in the state are found here, as are beech, southern magnolia, swampbay, spruce pine, and yellow- poplar. * Steep Hollow – A diverse and species-rich area with quaking bogs, longleaf pine slopes and ridges, and sweetbay-tupelo-swampbay areas.

Pinecote Pavilion

The Arboretum is home to the Pinecote Pavilion designed by the late E. Fay Jones. Jones was an apprentice to

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

and followed many of Wright's design principles. The pavilion is one of the architectural jewels of Mississippi. In 1991, Pinecote Pavilion has received an Honor award from the American Institute of Architects and secured Jones to win the

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

. Pinecote, the 64-acre Interpretive Center, was sensitively designed by consultants Andropogon Associates and site master planner Edward L. Blake, Jr. The design for Pinecote received a 1991 Honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and an ASLA Medallion Award (1999). Pinecote features walking journeys through 20 acres of biologically-enhanced savanna exhibits, 40 acres of woodland succession, and nearly 4 acres of created waterways.

History and landscape

Pinecote Pavilion

See also