Pinus thunbergii Parl.

vernacular Japanese black pine — species · Pinaceae

USDA: PITH2
GBIF: 5285799
Rank: species

Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii) — Platephotograph · Nicholas SlyCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Gymnosperm
Family: Pinaceae Spreng. ex Rudolphi
Genus: Pinus

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 13 counties across 3 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 13 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: Low

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -3 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 155 min.
Precipitation: 30–60 in/yr
pH range: 5.5–8
Root depth: 24 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 25 ft
Height @ 20 y: 50 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 34,080
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: Low
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 13 counties across 3 states/territories.

Massachusetts view state ↗ 4 I ▾

New Jersey view state ↗ 2 I ▾

New York view state ↗ 7 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PITH2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5285799 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z