10 Cryptomeria japonica Bonsai Seeds - Sacred Japanese Red Cedar

Cryptomeria japonica Bonsai Seeds

Japanese Red Cedar

Cryptomeria japonica or Japanese Red Cedar is a tall, cone shaped evergreen tree with bluish green foliage and a massive trunk with thick reddish brown bark that shreds and peels in long strips. This is a fast growing tree that, in its native habitat, can get more than 50 meters tall with a trunk diameter exceeding 3.6 meters. In cultivation ornamental specimens are rarely more than 18 meters tall. The branches are arranged in horizontal tiers, ascending at first, and then drooping near their ends. The flattened, wedge-shaped leaves are about 13mm long and point forward, while their bases clasp the twigs. The leaves are overlapping and crowded in 5 ranks that spiral around and completely cloak the twigs. Male and female cones, 2.5cm or less in length, are on the same tree. Cryptomeria japonica is the only species in its genus, and Cryptomeria is one of only 10 genera in the ancient family, Taxodiaceae, which once shared the landscape with the dinosaurs. Today these strange and wonderful trees occur nowhere but eastern Asia, North America and Tasmania. Japanese cedar is one of very few conifers that will coppice, (sprout back from cut stumps). You can regenerate an old specimen by cutting back the trunk to 60cm to 90cm above ground, then selecting which sprout(s) to keep and which to cut. This ability makes Cryptomeria japonica a perfect bonsai specimen. The stately Japanese cedar makes an imposing specimen. Use them in a group to create a visual screen or windbreak. Japanese cedars, symmetrical and uniform, are often planted along avenues.