45. Japanese Red Pine or Aka Matsu

アカマツ

Pinaceae

Pinus densiflora

Specimen Size: 60.5ft tall, 18.75in in diameter.

Location: Planter at the west corner of the intersection of Clallum and Klickitat Ln, Northeast of the entrance steps to Paccar Hall. Called Aka matsu in native Japan.

Historical Background: The Japanese Red Pine was an important tree used in Japanese architecture. It is now widely planted as an ornamental species and bonsai tree in Europe and North America. It has a wide range of medical uses. The resin contains turpentine that can be extracted and used for antiseptic purposes.

Non-native

Native Range: Japan, China, Korea, parts of Russia

Identifying Feature: This beautiful evergreens namesake may be easily seen in its vibrant red bark, flecked with scales of brown and grey. It can rise to 100’ (30m) tall in the wild, often exhibiting multiple trunks which rise into a rounded crown which flattens as the tree ages. Foliage is bright green needles 3-5” (7-12cm) in length and growing in fascicles of two (like the scotch pine seen earlier on this tour). Cones are oval to oblong and often plentiful. This is one of the more common trees seen in the Japanese islands.

Identifying Features In Depth:

Form: Often multi-stemmed but exhibiting strong apical control, with a narrow rounded crown that may flatten with age and become broader. This tree generally rises to between 40-60’ but is known to achieve heights of 100’ (30m) in the wild.
Leaves: Bright green needles in fascicles of 2 growing near branch tips. The needles are slender and long, 3-5” (7-12cm). They are far thinner than that of our native two needled pine, the Shore Pine.
Bark: Bark is very rough and distinctive, with orange red highlights in furrows giving way to brown and gray on other portions. Large scales are present far up the tree.
Reproductive Bodies: Male pollen cones cluster in bulk on the branch tips in spring and are small and yellow and oblong. Female cones are generally similarly prolific, oval to oblong and about 2” (5cm) long. The outsides of the scales is a light brown and the insides a dark brown.

Native range of Pinus densiflora in eastern Asia and Japan.

Below is the description found for this species on the original Brockman Memorial Tree Tour:

Historic Tree Tour Information: By the shallow stairs at Balmer Hall's east corner is a Japanese Red Pine. The trunk's reddish-orange color and peeling bark give away its identity. The needles are slender, soft, yellow-green and borne in bundles of two, along with cones that suggest those of Scots pine. To the Japanese, it is feminine, while the Japanese black pine is masculine. Like this specimen, it often is multi-trunked and broad, not a robust upright grower like many pines. Thus it is well suited for use in garden design. In Japan it is a used for timber production and as an ornamental. Japanese Red Pine is one of the more medicinally useful pines. It is used internally and externally to treat a wide variety of conditions. Aka matsu is its Japanese name. It was first introduced in the United States in 1854.

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