Buddhist pine

Identification and origin

Podocarpus macrophyllus belongs to the Podocarpaceae family. It is native to southern China, northern Myanmar, Taiwan and Japan, and has become naturalized in places such as Korea, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Great Britain and the southeastern United States.

It is a slow-growing evergreen conifer, a shrub or small tree with a dense, columnar to pyramidal habit whose lower limbs often reach the ground. Its size varies greatly with climate: in a temperate garden it usually reaches 8–13 ft tall and 5–8 ft wide after ten to twenty years; in warm climates it often exceeds 29.5 ft, and in tropical mountains it can become a large tree.

The leaves are spirally arranged and crowded along the shoots, flat, narrow and elongated, like pointed straps. Leathery and glossy, dark green above and grayer beneath, they show a paler midrib on both surfaces. They are 1–5 in long and give off a pleasant scent when crushed. Dwarf cultivars with shorter leaves exist, and they grow very slowly.

The species is dioecious: male plants bear elongated, yellowish pollen cones, while female plants carry seeds singly or in pairs. Each seed sits on a swollen, fleshy receptacle, purple to blue-black and about 1 in across. The bark is reddish brown, peels in strips and turns gray with age.

Light

Outdoors, it grows best in full sun, with at least six hours of direct light a day; it accepts partial shade and dappled light, but grows more slowly there, with a looser habit. It even tolerates the shade of a building.

In a container, it copes with low light but prefers full light, shielded from the midday sun in summer. An outdoor spot in partial shade suits it during the warm season. In winter, indoors, place it in front of a well-lit window; if light is short, keep it somewhere cooler instead.

Watering

Once established in the ground, Buddhist pine is very drought tolerant. It cannot stand waterlogged soil, however: too much water makes it drop its leaves and rots its roots.

In a container, water when the surface of the mix starts to dry, keeping the root ball slightly moist but never soggy. There is no fixed schedule: feel the mix before each watering. Avoid very hard, lime-rich water.

Potting mix

In the ground, it adapts to clay, loam, sand or chalk, as long as the soil drains well. It still prefers a moist, rather acidic soil rich in organic matter: in alkaline soil its foliage can yellow from chlorosis. In a container, choose a very free-draining mix with a pH between 5 and 6. An occasional feed with a fertilizer for acid-loving plants helps it stay green.

Temperature

In the ground, it is hardy in USDA zones 7a to 9b; it withstands winters down to 5–14 °F and handles heat well. In colder regions it is grown in a container and brought under cover for winter. It also tolerates salt and salt spray very well, making it a good shrub for coastal gardens, and copes with urban conditions, poor soils and restricted root space.

In a container, protect it from frost. Bring it in when temperatures drop in fall and do not move it back outside in spring until all risk of night frost has passed. It prefers to stay above 50 °F. In winter, keep it around 68 °F if it gets plenty of light, or at 50–59 °F in a dimmer spot.

Repotting

Its roots grow slowly. Repot a young plant every two or three years and an older one every four or five years, in spring. Trim the roots only lightly and, if the original root ball is heavy, loamy soil, remove it gradually and gently without damaging the roots.

Pruning

It needs very little pruning but tolerates it remarkably well, which is why it is used for hedges, screens and topiary. For a hedge, use hand pruners rather than a hedge trimmer: the result looks neater. Hard pruning triggers abundant new buds on old wood.

As bonsai, let new shoots reach about 4 in before shortening them, without cutting through the leaves. A dedicated bonsai guide is available on this site.

Propagation

Cuttings are the most common method: take semi-ripe cuttings in late summer, preferably from upright shoots, and root them in warm soil. Seed is possible too; since the species is dioecious, only female plants bear seeds.

Common problems

Buddhist pine is tough and has few pest or disease problems. Indoors, watch mainly for scale; spider mites and sooty mold sometimes appear, usually on plants weakened by poor growing conditions. Yellowing foliage can point to chlorosis in alkaline soil or magnesium deficiency in sandy soil. Root rot, caused by poorly draining mix or overwatering, is the main danger.

Remember that one symptom can have several causes: leaf drop can come from overwatering, lack of light or a cold snap. Look at the whole plant and its growing conditions before acting.

Toxicity

Buddhist pine is toxic to dogs, cats and horses: eating it causes severe vomiting and diarrhea, and colic in horses. The toxic principle has not been identified. The seeds are the toxic part, for people as well, in whom they cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea; severity is considered low. The fleshy receptacle that holds them is edible, but it can tempt children to swallow the seeds: keep an eye on them near a female plant in fruit.