English; Japanese umbrella-pine.
Japanese: Kōyamaki.
Name: from Greek sciádos, meaning umbrella, and pitys meaning pin; verticillata means whorled.
Region: Japan.
Genus: 1.
BotanyTree; evergreen; 15 to 27 m tall.
Stem: brown main shoots bearing whorls of 7 to 12 cm long flexible green cladodes that look like, and perform the function of, leaves, but are actually composed of stem tissues.
Fruit: cones are 6 to 11 cm long, mature in ± 18 months; with flattish scales.
InformationSciadopitys is a living fossil with no close relatives, and present in the fossil record for about 230 million years.