Hi everyone, and thanks for an extremely informative site!
My problem seems to be a common one around here, I just got my first Bonsai as a gift, but have no idea what species it is
If anyone out there would like to hazard a guess based on the following information, I would be extremely grateful. I'm working on getting a digital pic of the tree, but I'd like to know what species I'm dealing with as soon as possible, so I can care for it properly from the start.
First of all, I'm in Beijing, China, and I think this is a fairly typical tree for this area. Apart from looking like a typical stereotype of a Bonsai you'd see in a movie or dictionary illustration, it's most distinctive feature is the foliage.
The leaves don't actually look much like leaves, but are rather needle-like, although it doesn't look anything like a typical pinetree. Each "leaf/needle" has ridges, and they have an almost artificial look to them.
I've looked through dozens of galleries, including that "Kabuki" one that was recently recommended to another newbie with a similar problem. None of them has an exact match, but I'd have to have a very clear upclose image of the foliage to make that determination anyway. The closest match I've found is the Cypruss on that Kabuki page I mentioned, but yet again the foliage seemed a little off.
So, folks, what do I have here?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, I'm very new to Bonsai but find it fascinating already. In fact, I'm rapidly becoming emotionally attached to this little unidentified tree
--- G. Raven