[ Plant ID ] Conifer Two

This is the second conifer-ish looking plant I got.







On this one, the leaves are a bit different. They are pointed towards the direction of the growth. I mean, less opened up feel. The leaves are harder, and slightly prickly to the touch.

Juniper of some kind. Pretty skinny and straight for a bonsai. You'll have problems getting foliage far enough down the trunk to use this as a bonsai.

Hello Jim,

Thank you for the ID as a juniper. Hopefully someone could identify the strain as well.
The nursery said "Cypress Thai" and my google search for that name gave no results

For me, this plant, and the plant at "[ Plant ID ] Conifer Three" thread I'd started differ only in one aspect. The smell that the latter has.
I'm sure it will take a long time for me to find the differences

The little greens you see on the trunk between that lower branch and the main top aren't broken branches. They are sprouts that started after i did a trunk chop on the top. The cut isn't visible in the picture, though.
If those sprouts don't die off, I'll slowly cut off 30% again on top. And gradually, I hope the height would reduce. Is this a good decision?

Thank You

keebod wrote:Hello Jim,

Thank you for the ID as a juniper. Hopefully someone could identify the strain as well.
The nursery said "Cypress Thai" and my google search for that name gave no results

For me, this plant, and the plant at "[ Plant ID ] Conifer Three" thread I'd started differ only in one aspect. The smell that the latter has.
I'm sure it will take a long time for me to find the differences

The little greens you see on the trunk between that lower branch and the main top aren't broken branches. They are sprouts that started after i did a trunk chop on the top. The cut isn't visible in the picture, though.
If those sprouts don't die off, I'll slowly cut off 30% again on top. And gradually, I hope the height would reduce. Is this a good decision?

Thank You

It could be a Cryptomeria Japonica 'Elegans', but very hard to say from these pics. The foliar aroma suggests that it might be. The foliage of 'Elegans' will turn red in the fall and back to green in the spring. New growth does have this sort of grey-green coloration. I know of three main cultivars: the standard green, 'Elegans', and 'Sekkan Sugi' that emerges yellow and goes green with age - there may be more.

Cryptomeria are nice landscape trees, eventually getting quite large. The good news for your bonsai aspirations is that they back bud and you can chop them just as you would a deciduous tree. The challenge is to then produce a tree with an image other than the traditional bonsai pole of waffle irons. I've seen a couple of interesing crypto bonsai images while surfin'.

My english might be bad
What I meant with "the smell with latter" is that the conifer posted on the thread titled "[plant ID] conifer three" has a smell while this one doesn't have a smell.

On careful observation the leaves are really different.
The cryptomeria(as identified) has the smell. This one doesn't.

The cryptomeria has closer and tighter needles/leaves and fluffy to touch.
This one is prickly to touch and the needles have more gap between them.

The number of needles on this one looks lesser as well. The color is not that fresh green like on my cryptomeria, but slightly bluish.

I will not be getting that foliage color change in autumn, as we don't have any other season other than summer and monsoon rains.
South India, where I'm from is tropical and 90-95% humid. This humidity might be why all my ficuses, right from a very young age started with hanging aerial roots.

No problem, my mistake. My reading comprehension was poor

Well, so it might not be Cryptomeria, and a juniper instead?

Juniper makes sense, as Jim suggested, because of the prickly foliage. You might look into this further on wikipedia, for example.

if the foliage is soft to the touch try Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard'

0soyoung wrote:Juniper makes sense, as Jim suggested, because of the prickly foliage. You might look into this further on wikipedia, for example.

The wikipedia article has a huge list. and divided into two main categories. Needle leaf species, and scale leaf species.
What does it mean by juvenile foliage and adult foliage? Are they speaking of the tree's age, or the leaf's age? I mean, juvenile/young leaf eventually transform to that no-needle form, or when the tree ages, the new leaves that come would be of that scale type?

tim stubbs wrote:if the foliage is soft to the touch try Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard'

Thank You. I think, my plant on "conifer one" topic is that The leaves are soft, and fluffy. Droopy towards the tip too. And no peculiar smell like my Cryptomeria.

It may be possible that one (or more) of your trees is a chamaecyparis, but I don't think any of them are pisifera 'boulevard'. I've got several of them and the foliage doesn't look right...the young foliage has a very distinctive appearance, for example see this link: chamaecyparis pisifera boulevard foliage

As there are many varieties , this is the photo i found nearest to mine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boulevard_cypress.jpg.

Another guess: Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis (Chinese cedar), if it is not a juniper.

This variety has similar foliage and is native to China (and I thought there were only three ...). I have no idea about the smell of the foliage.

I think we're guessing here. Can I suggest you make contact with a bonsai club or other bonsai people in your area. One of them will probably be able to help you. Failing that, why not try local botanical gardens or the botany department at a university.

I REALLY don't think there's any doubt. It is a juniper. Beyond that, since he seems to be in China, I won't go. It's almost impossible to ID different junipers with any certainty from a computer pic, but this IS a juniper.

The soil, BTW, is terrible!

I thought he was in India. Perhaps you could tell us for definite Keebod?

In @0soyoung, earlier in this thread he stated:

keebod wrote:... we don't have any other season other than summer and monsoon rains.
South India, where I'm from is tropical and 90-95% humid. This humidity might be why all my ficuses, right from a very young age started with hanging aerial roots.

Cochin (aka Kochin on Google Earth/Maps) is on the west edge of the southern tip of India.

coh wrote:It may be possible that one (or more) of your trees is a chamaecyparis, but I don't think any of them are pisifera 'boulevard'. I've got several of them and the foliage doesn't look right...the young foliage has a very distinctive appearance, for example see this link: chamaecyparis pisifera boulevard foliage

The color, the leaf density(needles per maybe centimeter) and the droopy-towards-the-tip feeling on the image you have linked isn't a characteristic on any of my plants. :-S

tim stubbs wrote:As there are many varieties , this is the photo i found nearest to mine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boulevard_cypress.jpg

Here too, the leaves have a bend-me feeling. On mine, they are hard. I'm out of proper words :-S
It's like, they all look up to the sky, and not droopy at all.
This image has a type of juniper that exhibits the behavior, where all the branches are pointed upwards --> http://www.landmarklandscapes.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/juniper_bluerug.jpg
This link is just to show the pointed-up behavior, not that my plant is this.

If we touch the tip of these branches/sub-branches, it's prickly. Push it harder, it bends, but the moment we stop the push and remove the hand it 'springs' back to the pointed-up shape.
While the cryptomeria with me doesn't, we can literally 'reposition' each sub-branch.

0soyoung wrote:Another guess: Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis (Chinese cedar), if it is not a juniper.

This variety has similar foliage and is native to China (and I thought there were only three ...). I have no idea about the smell of the foliage.

These leaves have everything similar to my posted pictures, except the needles-per-centimeter. The needles-sets(whorls?) aren't this close.
There is no smell like cryptomeria japonica anyways

fiona wrote:I think we're guessing here. Can I suggest you make contact with a bonsai club or other bonsai people in your area. One of them will probably be able to help you. Failing that, why not try local botanical gardens or the botany department at a university.

Well, the bonsai clubs here have shows once every year, and the trees they concentrate on are broadleaf trees native to my tropical climate. These trees don't look like bonsais

For example, its good to see a jackfruit, coconut tree, banana plant or mango tree in a pot. But, they don't concentrate on making it look like a bonsai tree. They don't reduce their leaves too.
Seems like the intention is to have potted but fruiting trees, and not really aesthetics relevant to bonsai art.

Not even one botanical garden here. The closest would be in a different state, named "Ooty Botanical Garden". That place has got a cool climate, and it was a british main camp area because of this same climate advantage. The area has natural pine forests!


If I take a picture of the area behind or around my house, you will see just big leaf teak trees, coconut trees, mango trees, banana trees, breadfruit, and similar anti-bonsai trees.

JimLewis wrote:I REALLY don't think there's any doubt. It is a juniper. Beyond that, since he seems to be in China, I won't go. It's almost impossible to ID different junipers with any certainty from a computer pic, but this IS a juniper.

The soil, BTW, is terrible!

China is at least 3000km away from where I am, and a totally different country.

The soil and that tiny pot with root coming out of the bottom drainage hole is how I got it from the nursery.
Those red stone like things are what's used here even while planting on the ground. The nursery calls it "red soil", and its cut out in cubic shapes from red soil hills.
100 years back, houses were built out that, as no baking is required, I guess.

Those stones can be put in water, then taken out, and we can powder it with fingers.

Anyway, when I plant, I use 100% Coco Peat with no real soil.

Found the name, laterite --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laterite

fiona wrote:I thought he was in India. Perhaps you could tell us for definite Keebod?

Yes, It's Cochin/Kochi, State of Kerala, India

fiona wrote:I thought he was in India. Perhaps you could tell us for definite Keebod?

Oof! Well, back to geography class for me!