The landscaping surrounding the Shiley Center for Science and Technology was designed to meet more than aesthetic needs; it also provides an outdoor laboratory for students of ecological and organismal courses. The theme of the north side of the building (the main entrance) is “living fossil” plants, displaying horsetails, ferns, ginkgos, and cycads--plants of ancient lineages that are virtually unchanged after evolving hundreds of millions of years ago.  Arranged in adjacent rows adjacent the plaza on the south side of the building, succulents from diverse flowering plant families show remarkable similarities, providing great examples of convergent evolution.

On all sides of the building, except the north, a fine diversity of southern California native plants provides a beautiful, living reference collection.