Located between the Périgord and the Limousin, the Arboretum is bordered on one side by the river Côle and traversed by a natural woodland dominated by Quercus robur (pedunculate oak).
In 2003, Béatrice Chassé and Gérard Lionet decided to create an oak (genus Quercus) collection unaware of the fact that the genus contains more than 450 species as well as a great number of subspecies and natural hybrids, the great majority of which are found naturally in North America (Mexico and the USA) and in Asia.
Today, this collection is the largest oak collection in France (with more than 300 different oaks represented by more than 1,000 trees) and one of the most important in the world. It was awarded the label National Collection by the Conservatoire des Collections Végétales Spécialisées in 2012, and the label Jardin Remarquable in 2021.
But the Arboretum des Pouyouleix is not just about the genus Quercus.
The sister genera to oaks in the family Fagaceae – chestnut (Castanea), chinquapin (Castanopsis), beech (Fagus), stone oak (Lithocarpus), and tanbark oak (Notholithocarpus) – are here as well, along with a diverse range of other genera (from different families) including maples (Acer), hickory (Carya), hawthorns (Crataegus), rowan (Sorbus), prickly ash (Zanthoxylum), dogwood (Cornus), and many others;