- Trees of UCI -

// A Bit of Context

When I was in high school, I did Forestry in Science Olympiad and that made me a tree guy :D I like looking at the trees on campus and trying to identify them (shout out to the Seek app by iNaturalist). So, why not document them somewhere as well?

This page is dedicated to the identification of various trees here at UCI. All photos by me <3 Updated sporadically.

// Silk Floss Tree

Common Name: silk floss tree

Scientific Name: Ceiba speciosa

Family: Mallows

Location: Social Ecology Building

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The fruits of these trees are real funky. They go poof with cotton-like fibers. This one is lowkey malnourished but it did eventually bear fruit. There are more bigger ones at the grad housing area :-)

// California Incense Cedar

Common Name: California incense cedar

Scientific Name: Calocedrus decurrens

Family: Cypress

Location: the loading area behind Middle Earth Towers

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Fun fact: There are only 4 extant (living) species of Calocedrus! California incense cedar is the only one native to North America. Pretty special, isn't it?

// Strawberry Tree

Common Name: strawberry tree

Scientific Name: Arbutus unedo

Family: Heath

Location: all along Ring Road from Social Science Lecture Hall to Brandywine

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Fun fact: The berries are edible! Apparently they taste pretty good too, since they are used to make jams. Oh and also, it's the national tree of Italy.

Initially I thought this was pacific madrone, but the bark really doesn't match. Pacific madrone leaf has a shine to it, plus its serration is so fine it might as well be entire. So overall I feel pretty good about identifying this as strawberry tree. (I wonder why they went with this instead of pacific madrone, which is native to California.)

// American Sweetgum

Common Name: American sweetgum, American storax

Scientific Name: Liquidambar styraciflua

Family: Sweetgum

Location: Middle Earth

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For the longest time I thought this was California sycamore, but then one day walking by I just kinda snapped my head and was like "wait isn't this sweetgum??"

// Southern Magnolia

Common Names: southern magnolia, bull bay

Scientific Name: Magnolia grandiflora

Family: Magnolia

Location: Middle Earth

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Such wonderful trees 🤍 Southern magnolia seems to be a pretty popular landscape tree here in SoCal, which comes as a surprise given how they are native to the South. The back side of the leaf is brown and feels like leather.

// American Sycamore

Common Names: American sycamore, American planetree

Scientific Name: Platanus occidentalis

Family: Plane

Location: Science Library

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Iconic. Always nice to see one around. What can I say, I'm partial to sycamores <3 These leaves can be HUGE.

// Montezuma Cypress

Common Names: Montezuma cypress, Montezuma bald cypress

Scientific Name: Taxodium mucronatum

Family: Cypress

Location: Aldrich Park near Murray Krieger hall

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They have a sad weeping tree shape :(

// Bald Cypress

Common Name: bald cypress

Scientific Name: Taxodium distichum

Family: Cypress

Location: Aldrich Park near Murray Krieger hall

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I thought bald cypress leaves would be larger in size closer to that of coast redwoods but nope. I always imagined they would be as gorgeous as redwoods - not to be a hater but it's not even CLOSE. Maybe it's just the ones on our campus, but they look really scrawny and pathetic 😭

// Toyon

Common Name: toyon, California holly

Scientific Name: Heteromeles arbutifolia

Family: Rose

Location: UCI Ecological Preserve

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It's Toyon!! They're native to the west coast, pretty cool eh?

// Lemonade Berry

Common Name: lemonade berry, lemonade sumac

Scientific Name: Rhus integrifolia

Family: Cashew/Sumac

Location: UCI Ecological Preserve

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Ooo what a sweet name! They have a limited natural range, mostly found in Baja California, so it's pretty cool that we have them here at the preserve :0 Apparently the berries can be used to make lemonade flavored drinks, hence the name. Doesn't mean you should eat the fruit tho.

// Blue Jacaranda

Common Name: blue jacaranda

Scientific Name: Jacaranda mimosifolia

Family: Bignonia

Location: Aldrich Park

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I've seen this tree in so, so many places, but not once flowering! Apparently they have these wonderful violet-colored flowers???? WHAT????? The Seek app identified it as blue jacaranda but I have my suspicions...

Update (05/27/25): I WAS WRONG IT WAS BLUE JACARANDA!!!! THE TREES FLOWERED!!!!! I was a hater but I've been proven WRONG❌❌

// Olive

Common Name: olive

Scientific Name: Olea europaea

Family: Olive

Location: Aldrich Park

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Yes, you read right, we have an olive tree on campus! For the longest time, I've walked passed this tree and dismissed it as Just Another Generic Tree that the Seek app wouldn't identify... Oh how wrong I was. It's pretty distinct alright. I love the shinny surface of the leaves. Olives are monoecious, so there's a chance that this tree could actually bear olive fruits!

// Camphor

Common Name: camphor, camphor tree

Scientific Name: Camphora officinarum

Family: Laurels

Location: Aldrich Park

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For some reason I dislike this tree. Idk. It's not really remarkable in any way.

// Toyon

Common Name: toyon, California holly

Scientific Name: Heteromeles arbutifolia

Family: Rose

Location: ALP

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Toyon, again. Didn't realize we have some on campus as well lol.

// Chinese Elm

Common Names: Chinese elm, lacebark elm

Scientific Name: Ulmus parvifolia

Family: Elm

Location: along the road going from Aldrich to the Sculpture Garden

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I wonder if Chinese elms are more suited as a landscaping tree than American or slippery elm. I've always seen the former around but never the latter.

// Chinese Tallow

Common Names: Chinese tallow, gray popcorn tree

Scientific Name: Triadica sebifera

Family: Spurge

Location: the road underneath the bridge to humanities area idk what it's called

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Chinese tallow are recognized by their distinct leaf shape! Rhombic to ovate with a tapered "tail" at the end. However it took me a while to recognize them because my dumbass forgot that they turn red💀💀They have funky fruits too.

// Callery Pear

Common Names: callery pear, bradford pear

Scientific Name: Pyrus calleryana

Family: Rose

Location: Humanities Hall

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Uhhh at least I think this is a callery pear? There's a bunch of trees that all have this flower lol. Really pretty tho.

// Smooth Arizona Cypress

Common Name: smooth Arizona cypress, Arizona smooth bark cypress

Scientific Name: Hesperocyparis glabra

Family: Cypress

Location: William J. Gillespie Performance Studios

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Junipers are awesome. This one has a cool bark.

Could also be Arizona cypress (Hesperocyparis arizonica) but the bark doesn't match. Smooth Arizona cypress is the closest one I could find.

// California Sycamore

Common Names: California sycamore, western sycamore

Scientific Name: Platanus racemosa

Family: Plane

Location: near Antrepreneur Center

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I can't believe I waited this long to include California Sycamore here! It's one of my favorite trees <3 It's fluffy and it smells good. The bark of this one is not very typical of California sycamore, as it's usually more smooth and splotchy with pretty grays and oranges.

// Tulip Tree

Common Name: tulip tree, American tulip tree, tuliptree, tulip poplar, yellow poplar

Scientific Name: Liriodendron tulipifera

Family: Magnolia

Location: in front of the engineering trailers

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Probably one of the coolest leaf shapes out there. The flowers are pretty unique too.

// Feijoa

Common Names: Feijoa sellowiana

Scientific Name: Feijoa sellowiana

Family: Myrtle

Location: Middle Earth Towers

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So it turns out the fruits are edible... missed opportunity smh. The petals of the flowers are apparently edible too, Wikipedia describes them as "crisp, spicy-sweet tasting", which is certainly interesting.

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