Chamaecyparis obtusa

Chamaecyparis Obtusa

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Chamaecyparis obtusa

Chamaecyparis obtusa (Japanese cypress, Hinoki cypress or Hinoki; ) is a species of cypress

Cypress

Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the Pinophyta family Cupressaceae . Most plants which bear the common name cypress are in the genera Cupressus and Chamaecyparis, but several other genera in the family also carry the name, including:...
native to central Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
.

It is a slow-growing tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
which grows to 35 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter. The bark is dark red-brown. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are scale-like, 2-4 mm long, blunt tipped (obtuse), green above, and green below with a white stomatal band at the base of each scale-leaf.

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Encyclopedia

Chamaecyparis obtusa (Japanese cypress, Hinoki cypress or Hinoki; ) is a species of cypress

Cypress

Japan

TREE

Leaf

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
are globose, 8-12 mm diameter, with 8-12 scales arranged in opposite pairs. The related Chamaecyparis pisifera
Chamaecyparis pisifera

Chamaecyparis pisifera It is a slow-growing Pinophyta tree growing to 35?50 m tall with a trunk up to 2 m in diameter. The bark is red-brown, vertically fissured and with a stringy texture....
(Sawara Cypress) can be readily distinguished in its having pointed tips to the leaves and smaller cones.

A similar cypress found on Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
is treated by different botanists as either a variety of this species (as Chamaecyparis obtusa var. formosana) or as a separate species Chamaecyparis taiwanensis
Chamaecyparis taiwanensis

Chamaecyparis taiwanensis is a species of Chamaecyparis, native to the mountains of Taiwan, where it grows at altitudes of 1300?2800 m....
; it differs in having smaller cones (6-9 mm diameter) with smaller scales, and leaves with a more acute apex.

Cultivation and uses

It is grown for its very high quality timber in Japan, where it is used as a material for building palace

Palace

A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop....
s, temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A ??templum?? constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur....
s, shrines, traditional noh
Noh

, or is a major form of classic Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely-related Kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular, folk and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku....
theatres, table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth with rackets ....
blades and baths. The wood is lemon-scented, light pinkish-brown, with a rich, straight grain, and is highly rot-resistant.

For example, Horyuji Temple and Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

is a Japanese castle in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.Originally called Ozakajo, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period....
are built from Hinoki wood. The hinoki grown in Kiso

Kiso River

The is a river in Japan roughly 227 km long, flowing through the Prefectures of Japan of Nagano Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, and Mie Prefecture before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya....
, used for building Ise Shrine

Ise Shrine

Ise Shrine is a Jinja dedicated to goddess Amaterasu, located in the city of Ise, Mie in Mie prefecture, Japan....
, are called ??? Go-Shin-boku "Tree where god stayed".

It is also a popular ornamental tree in park

Park

A park is a Environmental protection, in its natural or semi-natural state or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment....
s and garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials....
s, both in Japan and elsewhere in temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold....
climates, including western Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and parts of North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
. A large number of cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s have been selected for garden planting, including dwarf forms, forms with yellow leaves, and forms with congested foliage. It is also often grown as bonsai

Bonsai

Bonsai 'Bonsai' is a Japanese pronunciation of the earlier Chinese term penzai . The word bonsai is used in the West as an umbrella term for all miniature trees in containers or pots....
.

Hinoki (and Sugi) pollen is a major cause of hay fever

Hay Fever

Hay Fever is a comic play written by No?l Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their outlandish b...
in Japan.

Cultivars

Over 200 cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s have been selected, varying in size from trees as large as the wild species, down to very slow-growing dwarf plants under 30 cm high. A few of the best known are:

'Crippsii' makes a broad conic golden-green crown with a vigorous leading shoot, growing to 15–20 m or more tall.
'Flabelliformis' is a dwarf growing with pale green leaves.
'Kosteri' is a dwarf with apple green foliage.
'Lycopodioides' reaches up to 19 m tall, with somewhat fasciated
Fasciation

Fasciation is a condition of plant growth in which the apical meristem, normally concentrated around a single point, producing approximately cylindrical tissue, becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue....
foliage.
'Minima' under 10cm after 20 years with mid-green foliage.
'Nana Aurea' has golden tips to the fans and a bronze tone in winter.
'Nana Gracilis' has crowded fans of tiny branches producing richly textured effects; it is often cited as a dwarf but has reached 11 m tall in cultivation in Britain.
'Nana Lutea' A compact, slow-growing, golden yellow selection which has become very popular. A yellow counterpart to 'Nana gracilis'.
'Spiralis' is an erect, stiff dwarf tree.
'Tempelhof' which grows to 2–4 metres has a green-yellow foliage that turns bronze in winter.
'Tetragona Aurea' grows to around 18 m tall, with a narrow crown and irregular branching, the scale leaves in 4 equal ranks and branchlets tightly crowded, green and gold.