Cleyera Japonica vs. Ternstroemia Gymnanthera

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Matt in TN
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Cleyera Japonica vs. Ternstroemia Gymnanthera

Post by Matt in TN »

I have been looking for some sakaki to plant in my dojo and be fairly accurate to a shinto setting. Initial research said sakaki is cleyera japonica, but I've found a few japanese postings that disagree (they say cleyera japonica is actually "mocho no ki", and sakaki is a different plant all together).

The other day I found some cleyera japonica at Home Depot for a good price and bought two, but it also said on the tag Ternstroemia Gymnanthera, which I had never heard of before. A quick web search on that term shows that very little actual cleyera japonica is sold in the US, and almost all that is sold here is actually ternstroemia gymnanthera.

I'm overwhelmed and confused with all the latin and japanese! Can anyone help me sort this out - all I want to do is plant a couple sakaki bushes in my school! :?
"The Way is in training" - Miyamoto Musashi
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bamboonut
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Re: Cleyera Japonica vs. Ternstroemia Gymnanthera

Post by bamboonut »

Hey Matt,
Ternstroemia gymnanthera has been renamed to T. japonica. Have a peek at the "Plants for a future" database, or better try the Kojien (広辞苑) for your specific Dojo needs. Btw, T. japonica is going to have trouble in your area, it's only hardy to Zone 9...
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bamboonut
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Re: Cleyera Japonica vs. Ternstroemia Gymnanthera

Post by bamboonut »

Ah, here we go:

Quote:
On May 2, 2004, Monocromatico from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Zone 11) wrote:
Cleyera japonica (do not mix up with Japanese Cleyera, species Ternstroemia gymnanthera) comes from the humid forests of China and Japan, where it´s known as Sakaki. It is a short tree or shrub that reaches 5 m tall. It has shiny, deep green, evergreen foliage, with medium sized leaves (6-10 cm long). The flowers are small, scented, axilar, with cream coloured petals. The fruits are globous or conical capsules.

It is hardy in zone 7, but I don´t know how much heat it can take. It needs full sun to partial shade, high moisture and fertile but acidic soil. There is a variegated cultivar, on which the leaf edges are white.
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Matt in TN
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Re: Cleyera Japonica vs. Ternstroemia Gymnanthera

Post by Matt in TN »

Thank you, sir - I saw that quote from Brazil in a google search, but that's the ONLY place I've ever seen that kind of info. It's always hard to know what to believe when searching/reading forums on the internet!

Contacting a friend in Japan (Kato-san) resulted in them telling me (after some research) that sakaki's latin name is cleyera japonica. They'd never heard of ternstroemia gymnanthera or mocho ni ki.

So I guess at this point I'll let it grow and see if it survives, hoping I don't piss off that kami by having the wrong plant :mrgreen:
"The Way is in training" - Miyamoto Musashi
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