EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Cultural Legacy Pine

Japanese Black Pine (Pinus thunbergii), Family Pinaceae
Kenrokuen Garden, Kanazawa, Japan

Explanation:  This impressive, gargantuan pine tree has a remarkable cultural legacy.

First, this is a Japanese black pine, found native to some coastal regions of Japan and South Korea.  It is revered in Japan and used for bonsai horticulture.  In the U.S. and elsewhere, it is introduced.  

But this individual has a remarkable origin.  As a local signboard informs, it was planted by seed by the 13th feudal lord Maeda Nariyasu (1811-1884).  It known as the Negami pine or the Neagarinomatsu Pine.  

It was planted on a tall mound of soil.  Then, as it grew, the soil was removed from the upper roots, which let them develop bark.  Eventually, the immense root system took on a stilt-like structure seen today.  And here it still stands, the great limbs supported by crutch planks, but of great cultural meaning and importance.