''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' (Japanese cypress, hinoki cypress or hinoki; or , ) is a species of cypress native to central

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

, and widely cultivated in the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

northern hemisphere for its high-quality timber and ornamental qualities, with many

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s commercially available.

Description

It is a slow-growing

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

which may reach tall with a trunk up to in diameter. The bark is dark red-brown. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are scale-like, long, blunt tipped (obtuse), green above, and green below with a white stomatal band at the base of each scale-leaf. The cones are globose, in diameter, with 8–12 scales arranged in opposite pairs.

Related species

The plant is widespread in Japan. The related '' Chamaecyparis pisifera'' (sawara cypress) can be readily distinguished in its having pointed tips to the leaves and smaller cones. A similar cypress found on

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

is treated by different botanists as either a variety of this species (as ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' var. ''formosana'') or as a separate species '' Chamaecyparis taiwanensis''; it differs in having smaller cones (6–9 mm diameter) with smaller scales, and leaves with a more acute apex.

Timber

It is grown for its very high-quality timber in Japan, where it is used as a material for building

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s, shrines, traditional '' noh'' theatres, baths,

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

blades and masu. The wood is lemon-scented, light pinkish-brown, with a rich, straight grain, and is highly rot-resistant. For example, Horyuji Temple and

Osaka Castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...

are built from hinoki wood. The hinoki grown in Kiso, used for building Ise Shrine, are called 御神木 ''go-shin-boku'', or "divine trees".

Ornamental cultivation

It is also a popular ornamental tree in parks and gardens, both in Japan and elsewhere in

climates, including

western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and parts of North America. A large number of

s have been selected for garden planting, including dwarf forms, forms with yellow leaves, and forms with congested foliage. It is also often grown as

bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

Cultivars

Over 200

s have been selected, varying in size from trees as large as the wild species, down to very slow-growing dwarf plants under high. A few of the best known are listed below. Those marked have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

(confirmed 2017). * 'Crippsii' makes a broad conic golden-green crown with a vigorous leading shoot, growing to or more tall * 'Fernspray Gold' – , arching sprays of green/yellow branches * 'Kamarachiba' – spreading shrub, tall by wide, sprays of yellow-green * 'Kosteri' – sprawling dwarf to tall by wide, with brilliant green foliage * 'Lycopodioides' reaches up to tall, with somewhat fasciated foliage * 'Minima' – under after 20 years with mid-green foliage * 'Nana' – dark green, rounded dwarf shrub to * 'Nana Aurea' – , golden tips to the fans and a bronze tone in winter * 'Nana Gracilis' – crowded fans of tiny branches producing richly textured effects; often cited as dwarf but has reached tall in cultivation in Britain * 'Nana Lutea' – compact, slow-growing, golden yellow selection which has become very popular; yellow counterpart to 'Nana gracilis' * 'Spiralis' is an erect, stiff dwarf tree * 'Tempelhof' growing to with green-yellow foliage that turns bronze in winter * 'Tetragona Aurea' grows to around tall, with a narrow crown and irregular branching, the scale leaves in 4 equal ranks and branchlets tightly crowded, green and gold * 'Tsatsumi Gold' – , contorted branches, yellow-green foliage

Chemistry

The

lignan The lignans are a large group of low molecular weight polyphenols found in plants, particularly seeds, whole grains, and vegetables. The name derives from the Latin word for "wood". Lignans are precursors to phytoestrogens. They may play a rol ...

s chamaecypanones A and B, obtulignolide, and isootobanone can be found in the heartwood of ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' var. ''formosana''. The biflavones sciadopitysin, ginkgetin, isoginkgetin, podocarpusflavone B, 7,7''-''O''-dimethylamentoflavone, bilobetin, podocarpusflavone A, 7-''O''-methylamentoflavone, amentoflavone, hinokinin and hinokiflavone have been confirmed in the leaves of the plant. Chamaecydin was first discovered in the seeds of ''C. obtusa''. The

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

of ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'' contains a wide range of chemical compounds, including but not limited to the following: sabinene, elemol,

myrcene Myrcene, or β-myrcene, is a terpene, monoterpene. A colorless oil, it occurs widely in essential oils. It is produced mainly semi-synthetically from ''Myrcia'', from which it gets its name. It is an intermediate in the production of several frag ...

limonene Limonene () is a colorless liquid aliphatic hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic monoterpene, and is the major component in the essential oil of citrus fruit peels. The (+)-isomer, occurring more commonly in nature as the fragrance of oranges, ...

, terpinen-4-ol, eudesmols, α-terpinyl acetate, α-terpinolene, α- terpineol, 3-carene, α-pinene, γ- terpinene, camphene, bornyl acetate, 1-methyladamantane, cuminol, eucarvone, 2-cyclopenten-1-one, 3,4-dimethyl-, 1,3-dimethyl-1-cyclohexene, calamenene, τ-muurolol, borneol, α-cadinol, β-thujaplicin. Some of these compounds are fragrances or intermediates used in the fragrance industry. Thus, the ''C. obtusa'' essential oil is used in perfumery and personal care products, such as soaps, shampoos, cosmetics. Hinoki wood is used as a traditional Japanese stick incense for its light, earthy aroma. Essential oil distilled from its wood is uniquely scented and highly valued.

Pollen

Hinoki pollen can cause pollinosis, a specific type of

allergic rhinitis Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. It is classified as a type I hypersensitivity reaction. Signs a ...

. ''Chamaecyparis obtusa'', along with '' Cryptomeria japonica'' (sugi, Japanese cedar), is the leading source of allergic pollen in Japan and a major cause of hay fever in Japan.

Gallery

File:Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana gracilis'.jpg, ''C. obtusa'' 'Nana Gracilis' File:Kyoto Toji Hiwadabuki C0990.jpg, Cypress bark is used as a traditional roofing material ('' hiwadabuki'') at Tō-ji in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

File:Haeckel Coniferae Chamaecyparis obtusa.jpg, Illustration File:Chamaecyparis Obtusa bonsai.JPG,

Bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

File:Japanese cypress woods C032473.jpg, File:Chamaecyparis obtusa 01.jpg, Tanzawa Mountains, Japan File:Chamaecyparis obtusa2.jpg, Foliage; underside showing white stomatal lines

References

External links

{{Authority control obtusa Endemic flora of Japan Trees of Japan Five sacred trees of Kiso Garden plants of Asia Near threatened flora of Asia Ornamental trees Plants used in bonsai Plants described in 1844 Taxa named by Philipp Franz von Siebold Taxa named by Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini