Arboretum of Alcsút

The Alcsúti Arboretum Nature Reserve covers almost 40 hectares, a protected area located at the foot of the Vértes Mountains. It is regarded as one of the country's most valuable living collections. The core of the arboretum is the park of the former palace of Prince Joseph. The park’s entrance near Alcsútdoboz was moved about 1 kilometre farther away around 2010.

History

Prince Joseph began planting the area with plants in 1825. The gardener János? Actually "Jámbor Vilmos", who returned from Schönbrunn, designed an English garden. The area previously functioned as a sheep pasture. In total there were three trees in the garden, which is now the garden visible, all artificially planted. It is also a plant introduction that is unique in the country. Three hundred plant species were introduced that had previously been unknown in Hungary.

Flora

The arboretum is mainly known for its old trees that have grown into giants, but its beautiful layout, the foreign exotic trees and shrubs that grow here can also provide lasting impressions. The pine collection of the arboretum offers many curiosities and rarities – besides native species, also exotic curiosities from far abroad.

Among the Virginia junipers (Juniperus virginiana) the largest specimen reaches a trunk circumference of 200 cm. Pencils are also made from this wood, therefore it is also called pencil pine. Among the Greek firs (Abies cephalonica) the largest trunk has a diameter of 280 cm, but there are also large balsam firs (Abies balsamea), gray‑brown Colorado firs (Abies concolor), Andalusian firs (Abies pinsapo) and Numidian fir (Abies numidica) here. Among the spruces there are also curiosities such as Japanese spruce (Picea polita) or the silvery‑leafed blue spruce (Picea pungens). The short‑needled, Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) cones are remarkably small. The Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) emits a pleasant orange scent when rubbed. Here is also the double‑needled, dark‑green black pine (Pinus nigra) and the largest domestic specimen of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris): the former’s trunk circumference is 275 cm, the latter’s 345 cm.

The special feature of the lake island in the arboretum is the North American deciduous swamp cypress (Taxodium distichum), which develops so‑called pneumatophores that grow upward from the soil – they can appear up to 15 m from the tree’s base. The arboretum submitted an application in 2008 for the reconstruction of the ornamental lake, during which the lake’s shoreline protection works were renovated, the lake basin was dredged, silting was prevented and water quality was improved, with about 200 million forints available for the works in the period 2009–2012.

The arborvitae (formerly called life trees) have several species in the arboretum. Among them the most interesting is the giant arborvitae (Thuja plicata). One well-developed specimen reaches a trunk circumference of 230 cm. Its lower branches bend to the ground and, settled there, have produced “offspring”. Also found here is the Chinese-origin ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), the evergreen giant sequoia (Sequoia gigantea), among the deciduous trees the large common plane tree, sycamore plane (maple-leaved plane, Platanus acerifolia) and the Turkish oak (Corilus colurna) – the latter also has a specimen with a trunk circumference of 300 cm. Numerous linden, birch, beech and oak trees also grow here, such as the rare Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto).