Crosby Arboretum

The Crosby Arboretum is located in Picayune, Mississippi, USA, and affiliated with the Mississippi State University. 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.

The Arboretum is home to the Pinecote Pavilion designed by the late E. Fay Jones. Jones was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright and followed many of Wright's design principles. The pavilion is one of the architectural jewels of not only Pearl River county, but also Mississippi.

The Arboretum honors L. O. Crosby, Jr. (1907-1978) by conserving the region's biological diversity and showcasing plants native to the Pearl River drainage basin. 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 forests, slash pine hardwoods, sweet bay-tupelo-swamp bay, beech-magnolia, bald cypress-tupelo, bottomland hardwoods, hillside bogs, and savannas.

• Hillside Bog - 70 acres (283,000 m²) of highly diverse habitat in northern Hancock County, including a hillside bog, longleaf pine, 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 nudata and Macranthera flammea.

• Dead Tiger Creek Savanna - 20 acres (81,000 m²) including a pine ridge, sloping bog area with several pitcher plant bogs that contain orchids and insect eating plants, and a flat savanna, containing most of the Mississippi holly 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 longleaf pine 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.