A slow-growing conifer tree, most often grown as a large shrub or small garden tree or as a bonsai, valued in East Asia for its neat form. Give it shelter from strong sun and keep the soil evenly moist but never waterlogged.
Family
Podocarpaceae (Podocarp family)
Grows as
Tree, Fern
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Water when the top few centimetres of soil dry out; avoid soggy roots.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile, slightly acidic to neutral potting or garden soil.
Temperature
15–25 °C; tolerates brief cold to about -10 °C once established, but protect young plants from frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
S. China to N. Myanmar, Taiwan, Japan
Climate
subtropical
About
Podocarpus macrophyllus, the yew plum pine, Buddhist pine, fern pine or Japanese yew, is a conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is the northernmost species of the family, native to southern Japan and southern and eastern China. Kusamaki (クサマキ) and inumaki (犬槇) are Japanese names for this tree. In China, it is known as luóhàn sōng (羅漢松), which literally means "arhat pine".
How to grow it
Kusamaki is the state tree of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is a popular large shrub or small tree in gardens, particularly in Japan and the Southeastern United States. The ripe cone arils are edible, though the seed should not be eaten. Because of its resistance to termites and water, inumaki is used for quality wooden houses in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
Buddhist pine is highly regarded as a feng shui tree in Hong Kong, giving it a very high market value. In recent years, the illegal digging of Buddhist pine has become a problem in the city.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Podocarpus macrophyllus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.