When Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma slammed South Florida in 2005, the one-two-three punch was devastating to the region’s rooted residents, including hundreds of leafy casualties in the University’s John C. Gifford Arboretum. After the loss of nearly half its species, the arboretum has been revived with a mix of tropical trees and shrubs.

Rare and exotic species such as the rainbow eucalyptus, the African baobab, and the ylang-ylang tree are among 300 new species that have been planted over the past year through a prodigious effort led by Carol Horvitz, professor of biology and director of the Gifford Arboretum, and John Cozza, arboretum special assistant and UM doctoral student. Key funding sources for the restoration include more than $65,000 in grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, matching grants from the University, a significant donation from the Friends of the Arboretum, and a bequest from the estate of the late Robert Kelley, professor of mathematics.

Horvitz, Cozza, and other UM faculty, staff, and students spent two and a half years identifying the surviving species, creating a wish list of species to add, and combing nurseries from West Palm Beach to Homestead to purchase the new flora. The team organized the new collection into 13 exhibits. There are ten display groups of tropical plants and three thematic groups: South Florida Natives, Maya Cocoa Garden, and What Is a Tree? Each inhabitant serves a deliberate purpose.

“The Gifford’s educational mission is distinct from other Miami gardens,” Horvitz explains. “It is to teach our students and the community about the evolution of biodiversity. The Gifford’s new master plan features evolutionary relationships of the plant families, and specimens were chosen because they exemplify flowers, fruits, leaves, bark, and chemistry with special adaptive significance.”

Located on the northwest corner of the Coral Gables campus near Robbia Avenue and San Amaro Drive, the arboretum was planted in 1947 by UM botany professors Frank J. Rimoldi and Roy Woodbury. In 1949 it was named for the late John C. Gifford, the first graduate forester in the United States and a UM professor of tropical forestry. The University community celebrated the Gifford Arboretum restoration this past spring with a guided tour led by Cozza and a lecture on “Weeds in Paradise” by Julie S. Denslow, M.S. ’69, scientist emerita of the USDA Forest Service.