Pinus palustris (longleaf pine, "Daiomatsu")

Japanese name: ダイオウマツ （大王松）
Scientific name: Pinus palustris

[Overview]
An evergreen coniferous tree up to 40 m tall with a trunk up to 1 m in diameter.
The bark is reddish brown and peels off in scales.
The leaves are needle-shaped, 20–50 cm long, borne in bundles of three, slightly twisted and hanging down long.
Both male and female flowers are borne on new branches.
Male flowers are borne in large numbers toward the base of the branch, while female flowers are small and pinecone-shaped, borne at the branch tips.
The cones are 15–25 cm long and 5–7 cm in diameter, and ripen in autumn of the following year.
The seeds are winged.

[Uses]
The wood is very hard and useful.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site, a warm, humid climate and moist ground.
Its roots also host symbiotic fungi that need oxygen, so it requires soil containing air.
Mature trees dislike being transplanted and often weaken and fail to recover, so it is better to plant young trees whenever possible.
Water thoroughly when the soil dries.
Apply slow-release chemical fertilizer around the plant as fertilizer in winter.
Pruning is rarely done; the shape is maintained by 'midori-tsumi' (green pinching), pinching off the soft new shoots that grow out in spring in April–May, and by 'momiage', in which, in late autumn, a few of the branches that grew in summer are left and the old leaves and remaining branches are stripped off.

[Notes]
It has been reported that in the wild, after germinating it does not grow immediately but spends a long period in a herbaceous-like state, and begins to grow when exposed to heat from a forest fire or the like.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)