Cryptomeria japonica

Japanese red-cedar or Japanese cedar is the only species in the Cryptomeria genus of the cupressus or Cupressaceae family. It is native to Japan where it is known as sugi. It also has been cultivated in China for so long that often it is mistaken to be native there, being called Cryptomeria japonica var. sinensis even though it doesn't differ from wild sugi in Japan.

Twenty or more cultivars of C. japonica are commonly planted in gardens.

• Leaves are awl-like, slender up to 1.5 cm long, taper-pointed and curved forward along the shoots, resembling the leaves of giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum).
• Species is monoecious. Female seed cones are green, soft spiny up to 2cm across and are in clusters at the tips of shoots, turning reddish brown in the fall. Males are small (less than 8 mm long), light brown, appearing from leaf axils near branch tips in early spring.
• Japanese sugi is the main commercial plantation species in Japan, typically grown to 50 to 60 years, with numerous commercial thinnings before final harvest. Sawlogs are manufactured into components for construction of the much revered Japanese post and beam traditional house.