Cryptomeria

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Cryptomeria

Cryptomeria is a genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of conifer

Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxon within the Plant. They are Conifer cone-bearing seed plants with Vascular plant tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs....
in the cypress

Cupressaceae

The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera with about 130-140 species....
family Cupressaceae

Cupressaceae

The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera with about 130-140 species....
formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae

Taxodiaceae

The Taxodiaceae was at one time regarded as a distinct plant family comprising the following ten genera of coniferous trees:*Athrotaxis*Cryptomeria...
; it includes only one species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, Cryptomeria japonica (syn.: Cupressus japonica L.f.) . It is endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
to 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....
, where it is known as Sugi . The tree is often called Japanese Cedar in English, though the tree is not related to the cedar
Cedar

Cedar is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are most closely related to the Firs , sharing a very similar cone structure....
s (Cedrus).

Description
It is a very large evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
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....
, reaching up to 70 m (230 ft) tall and 4 m (12 ft) trunk diameter, with red-brown bark which peels in vertical strips.

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Encyclopedia

Cryptomeria is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
of conifer
Pinophyta

The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxon within the Plant. They are Conifer cone-bearing seed plants with Vascular plant tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs....
in the cypress
Cupressaceae

The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera with about 130-140 species....
family Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae

The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera with about 130-140 species....
formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae
Taxodiaceae

The Taxodiaceae was at one time regarded as a distinct plant family comprising the following ten genera of coniferous trees:*Athrotaxis*Cryptomeria...
; it includes only one species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
, Cryptomeria japonica (syn.: Cupressus japonica L.f.) . It is endemic
Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, Habitat type, nation, or other defined zone....
to 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....
, where it is known as Sugi . The tree is often called Japanese Cedar in English, though the tree is not related to the cedar
Cedar

Cedar is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are most closely related to the Firs , sharing a very similar cone structure....
s (Cedrus).

Description

It is a very large evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
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....
, reaching up to 70 m (230 ft) tall and 4 m (12 ft) trunk diameter, with red-brown bark which peels in vertical strips. 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 arranged spirally, needle-like, 0.5–1 cm long; and the seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
cones globular, 1–2 cm diameter with about 20–40 scales. It is superficially similar to the related Giant Sequoia
Sequoiadendron

Sequoiadendron giganteum is the sole species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as Redwood , classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Cupressaceae#Classification, together with Sequoia and Metasequoia ....
(Sequoiadendron giganteum), from which it can be differentiated by the longer leaves (under 0.5 cm in the Giant Sequoia) and smaller cones (4–6 cm in the Giant Sequoia), and the harder bark on the trunk (thick, soft and spongy in Giant Sequoia).

Sugi (and Hinoki
Chamaecyparis obtusa

Chamaecyparis obtusa is a species of cypress native to central Japan.It is a slow-growing tree which grows to 35 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter....
) pollen
Pollen

Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of Gametophyte , which produce the male gametes of spermatophyta. A hard coat covering the pollen grain protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower....
is a major cause of hayfever in Japan.

Sugi has been so long-cultivated in China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
that it is thought by some to be native there. Forms selected for ornament and timber production long ago in China have been described as a distinct variety Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis (or even a distinct species, Cryptomeria fortunei), but they do not differ from the full range of variation found in the wild in Japan, and there is no definite evidence the species ever occurred wild in China.

Symbolism and uses

Sugi is the national tree of 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....
, commonly planted around 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 and shrines, with many hugely impressive trees planted centuries ago. Sargent (1894; The Forest Flora of Japan) recorded the instance of a daimyo
Daimyo

The were powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. The term derives from a shortening of the title , which literally means "great named land" and originally simply referred to the owner of a large estate....
(feudal lord) who was too poor to donate a stone lantern at the funeral of the Shogun
Shogun

is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The Japanese word for "general", it is made up of two kanji characters: sho, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning military troops or warriors....
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
(1543–1616) at Nikko Tosho-gu
Nikko Tosho-gu

is a Shinto shrine located in Nikko, Tochigi, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the "Shrines and Temples of Nikko", a UNESCO World Heritage Site....
, but requested instead to be allowed to plant an avenue of Sugi, "that future visitors might be protected from the heat of the sun". The offer was accepted; the avenue, which still exists, is over 65 km (40 miles) long, and "has not its equal in stately grandeur".

It is also extensively used in forestry
Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
plantation
Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
s in Japan and China, and is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree in other temperate areas, including Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, 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....
, 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....
and eastern himalaya regions of Nepal and India.

One very popular ornamental form is the 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....
"Elegans", which is notable for retaining juvenile foliage throughout its life, instead of developing normal adult foliage when one year old. The right hand specimen in the box photo is of this cultivar. It makes a small, shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
by tree 5–10m tall. There are numerous dwarf cultivars that are widely used in rock gardens and for bonsai, including 'tansu', 'koshyi', 'little diamond', 'yokohama' and 'kilmacurragh.'

The wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
is scented, reddish-pink in colour, lightweight but strong, waterproof and resistant to decay. It is favoured in Japan for all types of construction work as well as interior panelling
Panelling

Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....
, etc.

Cryptomeria is used as a food plant by the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
s of the genus Endoclita
Endoclita

Endoclita is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae. There are 60 described species found in eastern and southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent....
including E. auratus, E. punctimargo and E. undulifer.

See Also

Onbashira
Onbashira

Onbashira is a festival held every six years in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano, Japan. The purpose of the festival is to symbolically renew the Suwa Taisha or Suwa Grand Shrine....

External Links

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