Podocarpus macrophyllus

kusamaki

An especially popular ornamental in Japan and China, kusamaki is highly regarded in feng shui. Because the tree is so highly sought after, theft of plants by digging them out of the landscape has become a problem; sometimes plant enthusiasts get a little carried away when it comes to acquiring specimens of certain plants, and they resort to stealing.

When I was an intern at Cleveland Botanic Garden, we got a call from construction workers across the street wondering if we had called someone in to hurriedly dig up plants from our front display garden and transport them somewhere in their trunk. Of course we had not, and so an exciting scramble ensued to try and catch the plant thief. You can imagine the enthusiastic response from security, who dropped everything and went into SWAT mode. I mean, how much action do you think they get to see at a botanic garden? They’d probably been waiting for something like this to happen for years. Unfortunately, the thief was not caught, but the losses were minimal: they took three canna lilies, which although beautiful, are not more than about $10 per plant at a neighborhood garden center. It’s amazing what people will risk just for a few plants! Here's another example, caught on video:

Besides having high desirability in the landscape, the seed is toxic but the fruit surrounding the seed is edible. The bark is used to treat ringworm and blood disorders. The hard wood from kusamaki trees has been used to make houses, furniture, and tool handles.

Although our specimens of this plant are growing in almost full shade, the plant grows much quicker and fuller in full sun.