The Japanese white pine (Pinus parviflora) is a pine in the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, native to Japan. It is also known as the Japanese five-needle pine (Pinus pentaphylla).
It is a coniferous evergreen tree, growing to 15–25 m in height and is usually as broad as it is tall, forming a wide, dense, conical crown. The leaves are needle-like, in bundles of five, with a length of 5–6 cm. The cones are 4–7 cm long, with broad, rounded scales; the seeds are 8–11 mm long, with a vestigial 2–10 mm wing.
This is a popular tree for bonsai, and is also grown as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. The 'Adcock's dwarf' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
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“I am a lantern—
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Infinitely delicate and infinitely expensive.”
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To this delicious solitude.
No white nor red was ever seen
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Fond lovers, cruel as their flame,
Cut in these trees their mistress’ name:
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Fair trees, wheresoe’er your barks I wound,
No name shall but your own be found.”
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—Donald Hall (b. 1928)