Bonsai Encyclopedia

A deciduous bonsai with small leaves and fine branching. Fast growth makes styling easy for beginners. Semi-evergreen, providing foliage interest year-round.

Deciduous bonsai bearing small fruits in autumn. Smooth gray bark and natural form are appealing. Birds visiting for fruits add charm. Good root spread.

An ancient tree called a living fossil. Fan-shaped leaves and vivid yellow autumn color are spectacular. Unique aerial roots (chichi) add interest. Hardy and beginner-friendly.

A deciduous shrub native across Japan bearing purple berries about 3 mm across in autumn, often persisting after leaf fall. Many plants sold as murasaki-shikibu are actually the closely related, denser-fruiting Callicarpa dichotoma.

Deciduous tree with small leaves and fine branching. Easy to shape for bonsai with attractive brown-gold autumn color. Small leaf size makes it ideal for shohin.

A deciduous shrub typical of Japanese coppice woods, bearing flat clusters of small white flowers in early summer and bunches of red berries about 6 mm across in autumn. In bonsai, small-leaved forms such as 'Kinkazan' are favoured.

Also called sweetgum. Star-shaped leaves with spectacular autumn color. Deep corky bark ridges are also attractive. Relatively fast-growing and beginner-friendly.

A deciduous hornbeam whose new shoots, young leaves and autumn foliage flush red. Called 'aka-soro' in bonsai, it has the smallest leaves and finest twigs among the hornbeams, offering interest from spring budbreak to winter silhouette.

Popular deciduous bonsai with distinctive three-lobed leaves. Appealing root spread, bark texture, and autumn color. Often styled as root-over-rock. Fast growth suits beginners.

A deciduous shrub counted among the world's three great autumn-colour trees, turning brilliant red. Corky wings along the stems are distinctive, and red-coated seeds appear in autumn. A single plant sets fruit.