Pinus bungeana (Bunge's pine, "Shiromatsu")

Japanese name: シロマツ （白松）
Scientific name: Pinus bungeana

[Overview]
An evergreen coniferous tree reaching 30 m in height.
The bark peels off in irregular scales, giving a mottled pattern of green, cream and brown.
The bark of old trees becomes grayish white.
The leaves are needle-shaped, 5–10 cm long, and borne in bundles of three.
Both male and female flowers are borne on new branches.
The male flowers are borne in large numbers near the base of the branch, and the female flowers, shaped like small pine cones, are borne at the branch tips.
The cone (pinecone) is ovoid, 5–7 cm long and 4–6 cm in diameter, and ripens in autumn of the following year.
The seeds have wings.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
Also, because symbiotic fungi that like oxygen live on its roots, it needs soil that contains air.
Mature trees dislike being transplanted and often weaken and fail to recover, so it is better to plant young trees whenever possible.
It is cold-hardy and tolerates dryness.
Water thoroughly when the soil dries.
Apply slow-release fertilizer around the tree as fertilizer in winter.
Prune little; the tree's shape is maintained by "midoritsumi," pinching off the soft new shoots that grow out in spring in April–May, and "momiage," in late autumn, leaving a few of the branches that grew in summer and stripping off the old leaves and the remaining branches.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)