Modern Korean Expeditions

Arnold Arboretum plant explorers returned to Korea in 1977 after a hiatus of 58 years. Taxonomists Stephen Spongberg and Richard Weaver visited fourteen collecting sites in northern and southern South Korea. Carl Ferris Miller, founder of Chollipo Arboretum was their host and guide throughout the country.  

This expedition returned with seeds and specimens. The seeds were propagated by the staff of the Dana Greenhouses, grown on, and later planted on the Arboretum grounds.  

Since our 1977 trip to South Korea, Chollipo Arboretum has sent us wild collected seeds gathered from many localities in the country, as well as seeds from cultivated material in their collections. In 1983, they sent seeds of a hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii, which their collectors had gathered on Ulleung Island 울릉도. Ernest Wilson photographed an example of this species on his visit to the island which you can see in the Visitor Center. Recent genetic analysis of trees growing on the Arnold Arboretum grounds determined that the trees on Ulleung are in fact a distinct species. Arboretum Senior Scientist Peter Del Tredici was part of the team who made this discovery.  

A man in a blue shirt and grey pants leans on a sloping rock face to reach plant material.
A man in a short sleeved dark shirt smiles and points at a plant leaves laying on a sheet of newspaper. A rectangular piece of tan cardboard is in the foreground.
A table with four trays made of folded newspaper holding seeds requiring drying and cleaning.
A forest mountain with blue sky and clouds above.
Seven people sit in a semicircle in a forest clearing. Four of them hold chopsticks in their hands.
A fir tree on a hillside with a mist covered landscape in the background.
A table with a white tablecloth covered in large a small dishes with a variety of foods.
View of a mountain peak with a conifer growing in the foreground on the left.
View through trees of an island covered with trees and surrounded by bright blue water.
A man in a dark blue t-shirt, grey pants, and grey cap stands with his left hand on a plant with green leaves. Vegetation grows all around and in the background.
Two men in dark colored jackets stand. In the background are seen mountain peaks.
A man with grey hair and glasses wearing a black suit stands at a podium. His arms are raised to chest level.
Four men and a woman stand in a semicircle to the left of a man in a black suit who is gesturing towards a photograph hanging on a wall. In the background are other people and a man holds up a camera to photograph the people in the front.