A Coniferous Contest

I once read that California was home to more species of conifers than any other similarly-sized area in the world. Hmm… My mind raced around the globe…to New Zealand…to China--but that doesn't count because the area is much larger--to Japan. Ha! Japan. I'll bet Japan, similarly sized, has more species than California. I decided to champion Japan. My wife is from Japan, and besides, more species and cultivars of plants of importance to my business and gardening pleasure come from Japan. To some degree we Oregonians loathe California, and never cheer for it to be the champion of anything. That's not fair of course: California has wonderful cities and scenery and obviously, many excellent conifers. Actually we just don't like Californians.

I regret that I can't remember where I read the claim for California, but I had an urge to prove it wrong. I began a side-by-side list of all the species I could think of, and the two went neck-to-neck down the page. After being stuck for a few minutes, I noticed that my Hillier's Manual of Trees and Shrubs was squirming with hand raised, anxious to be of importance. And indeed, this chunky encyclopedia has never been shelved; for my entire career it has sat atop my desk, well-thumbed and used nearly every day. (My only gripe is Hillier's spelling of Picea brewerana, when the rest of the world spells it breweriana).

But anyway, now I could systematically record the species from these two provinces. Soon, however, I realized that it wasn't so easy. Nomenclatural splitting or lumping issues arose. Do I count Juniperus japonica as a species, or does it fall under x media (as in 'Plumosa')? Is Pseudotsuga macrocarpa a separate species from menziesii? I tried to be fair about those details, and beginning with Abies I again began my compilation.

Japan took the lead at the get-go, with more Abies species…but yikes: all those Californian Cupressus. Then of course the Californian Pinus. Occasionally I consulted Keith Rushforth's Conifers to see if a species crept into California, like Abies amabilis, and yes it does. In the end I totaled 38 species from Japan and 45 from California. No doubt I have overlooked a couple, and you can check the list below. But it is certain the claim for California is valid. A (C) after the plant name denotes from California, a (J) denotes from Japan.

Abies magnifica (C)

Abies firma (J)

Calocedrus decurrens (C)

Cupressus bakeri ssp. matthewsii (C)

Cupressus macrocarpa (C)

Chamaecyparis obtusa (J)

Cryptomeria japonica (J)

Juniperus communis (C)

Juniperus rigida (J)

Picea breweriana (C)

Picea breweriana (C)

Picea polita (J)

Picea polita (J)

Pinus contorta (C)

Pinus densiflora (J)

Pinus coulteri (C)

Pinus jeffreyi (C)

Pinus jeffreyi (C)

Pinus longaeva (C)

Pinus parviflora (J)

Pinus monophylla (C)

Pinus parviflora (J)

Pinus ponderosa (C)

Pinus ponderosa (C)

Pinus thunbergii (J)

Pinus pumila (J)

Pseudotsuga japonica (J)

Pseudotsuga menziesii (C)

Sciadopitys verticillata (J)

Sciadopitys verticillata (J)

Sequoia sempervirens (C)

Sequoiadendron giganteum (C)

Taxus brevifolia (C)

Thuja plicata (C)

Thujopsis dolabrata (J)

Tsuga diversifolia (J)

Tsuga mertensiana (C)

Ok, California is the winner, and really the people aren't so bad. Nearly every year I visit once or twice, admiring plants in the wild or in collections. I have seen most of the species in the wild, and California certainly is a great state for plants. Besides, they recently renamed the largest tree in the world, formerly known as the General Sherman Redwood, in my nursery's honor.

Sequoiadendron giganteum (C)

From California	From Japan
Abies amabilis	Abies firma
Abies bracteata	Abies homolepis
Abies grandis	Abies mariesii
Abies magnifica	Abies sachalinensis
Calocedrus decurrens	Abies sikokiana
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana	Abies veitchii
Cupressus abramsiana	Cephalotaxus harringtonia
Cupressus bakeri ssp. matthewsii	Chamaecyparis obtusa
Cupressus forbesii	Chamaecyparis pisifera
Cupressus goveniana	Cryptomeria japonica
Cupressus lusitanica	Juniperus chinensis
Cupressus macnabiana	Juniperus communis
Cupressus macrocarpa	Juniperus conferta
Cupressus sargentii	Juniperus rigida
Cupressus stephensonii	Juniperus sargentii
Juniperus californica	Larix gmelini japonica
Juniperus communis	Larix kaempferi
Picea breweriana	Picea bicolor
Picea sitchensis	Picea glehnii
Pinus albicaulis	Picea jezoensis
Pinus attenuata	Picea koyamae
Pinus monophylla	Picea maximowiczii
Pinus contorta	Picea polita
Pinus coulteri	Pinus densiflora
Pinus flexilis	Pinus luchuensis
Pinus jeffreyi	Pinus parviflora
Pinus lambertiana	Pinus pumila
Pinus longaeva	Pinus thunbergii
Pinus monticola	Podocarpus macrophyllus
Pinus muricata	Podocarpus nagi
Pinus ponderosa	Pseudotsuga japonica
Pinus quadrifolia	Sciadopitys verticillata
Pinus radiata	Taxus cuspidata
Pinus sabiniana	Thujopsis dolabrata
Pinus torreyana	Thuja standishii
Pinus washoensis	Torreya nucifera
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa	Tsuga diversifolia
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Tsuga sieboldii
Sequoia sempervirens
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Taxus brevifolia
Thuja plicata
Torreya californica
Tsuga heterophylla
Tsuga mertensiana