Umbrella pine a temple tree (Sciadopitys verticillata)

The kōyamaki or Japanese umbrella-pine, is a unique conifer endemic to Japan. It is the sole living member of the family Sciadopityaceae and genus Sciadopitys, a living fossil with no close relatives. The oldest fossils of Sciadopitys are from the Late Cretaceous of Japan, and the genus was widespread in Laurasia during most of the Cenozoic, especially in Europe until the Pliocene.

An extinct European relative of this species may have been the primary producer of Baltic amber.

This striking botanical rarity is a real living fossil, the last species of a once widespread family that reached its peak in the Cretaceous period. The results of a 2009 study of Baltic amber using infrared spectroscopy and other methods gave profound indications of the possibility that an extinct species from this family, closely related to the umbrella fir, was the main producer of the resin of this Eocene amber.

The umbrella fir grows very slowly and in a densely conical shape with whorled branches. Stiff and leathery double needles are tightly packed on them in an umbrella-like arrangement.

The umbrella fir only occurs on the Japanese islands of southern Honshū, Kyūshū and Shikoku. It thrives in the mixed forests of the subtropical cloud forests at medium altitudes of 500 to 1000 meters with high rainfall and high humidity.

We offer the umbrella fir for rent in the exceptional height of 250cm as a solitary plant in a large container (minimum rental period 1 month).