Bonsai Encyclopedia

A tree deeply connected to Buddhism. Heart-shaped leaves are characteristic but can be reduced in bonsai. Yellow flowers and autumn color are attractive. Evokes temple atmosphere.

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.

Another name for the mame-zakura, a small wild cherry endemic to Japan and common around Mt. Fuji and Hakone. Small in flower, leaf and stature, it bears little white to pale pink, nodding flowers even on short trees, so it blooms well as bonsai.

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.

Bonsai of a tall deciduous tree with smooth silver-white bark and elegant form. Enjoy spring budding, summer green, autumn gold, and winter marcescent leaves.

A deciduous bonsai prized for its white bark. As a tree of cool highlands it suffers in lowland summer heat and dryness, so partial shade and keeping the roots cool are the keys. It shifts through fresh green, gold and bare white trunks.

A deciduous bonsai tree with fine branching and ovate leaves with sharply impressed veins. Easy to train into broom or informal upright styles, with golden autumn color and pendulous fruiting catkins that resemble Shinto paper streamers.

The quintessential deciduous bonsai, showcasing all four seasons — spring green, summer foliage, autumn color, winter silhouette. Fine ramification and small leaves are the hallmarks.

A deciduous rose-family tree whose pinnate leaves turn scarlet in autumn, with clusters of red berries that stay on after leaf fall. Flat heads of small white flowers appear in early summer. It prefers cool climates and is hard to keep long in warm lowlands.

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.

Deciduous bonsai blooming with white camellia-like flowers in summer. Smooth bark develops beautiful mottled pattern with age. Triple appeal: flowers, bark, and autumn color.