Linnaeus Arboretum on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College provides an enriching environment to educate the mind, revive the spirit and delight in Minnesota's natural history. The three major natural ecosystems found in Minnesota are represented in the arboretum: the conifer forest in the north, the prairie in the south and west, and the deciduous forest in between. A fourth area surrounding the Melva Lind Interpretive Center includes cultivated gardens and trees that were introduced into the state from other regions of the globe. The arboretum is named for Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), a Swedish botanist who shortened long Latin descriptive plant names to two names, genus and species, for each plant. The first trees in the arboretum were planted as very small seedlings in 1973 on land that had been used for many years for agriculture. Friends of Linnaeus Arboretum is a friends-of-the-college organization dedicated to assisting the College in developing, promoting, and financially supporting the arboretum. Membership gifts help to underwrite or endow the planting of trees, groves, and flower gardens, and provide for programming.