The Sherwood Fox Arboretum
The Sherwood Fox Arboretum encompasses all the planted trees and shrubs on campus and represents the biodiversity of woody plants hardy in temperate regions. Western is located at the centre of the Carolinian Zone, making our region the richest in biodiversity in all of Canada. As the Sherwood Fox Arboretum presents a larger range of trees than can be found in parks or nurseries, it has an important role in public education and scientific research. Many of the trees on campus are labeled for easy identification. Dr. W. Sherwood Fox had been hired to teach the Classics Department in 1917. In 1919, he was appointed Dean of Arts and Science; he was inaugurated as President in 1928 with a celebration that jointly recognized Western's Golden Jubilee.
The Sherwood Fox Arboretum was established in 1981 by Dr. George Connell, then President of Western, who appointed Dr. J.B. Phipps as the Arboretum's first Director. The memorialization of Sherwood Fox is a logical one; he was an inveterate botanist, adding numerous specimens to the Herbarium which he collected during personal and professional trips to many places. In his Reminiscences, he noted that the abundance of tulip trees in Southwestern Ontario helped lure him to Western's Classics Department in 1917. The fundamental objective of the Sherwood Fox Arboretum is to have growing on campus as many as possible of the several thousand kinds of trees and shrubs that can survive in this climate.
Check out the Western University Tree Dashboard for an interactive tour to explore and identify the native, donated, and commemorated trees across Western's campus.
