The Ancient Art of Bonsai: Glossary, Chapter I

A

apex - the tip of a tree or branch

B

bonsai - Japanese term for the the art of cultivating and training a plant to create the illusion of a dwarfed tree.

bonkei - tray plantings containing stones, trees, plants and figurines

branch bender - a clamp or jack used to bend branches or trunk

branch splitter - a cutting tool used to divide branch or trunk to allow it to be bent more easily.

broom style - A training form for bonsai which resembles an inverted broom with a single trunk dividing into many symmetric branchlets which subdivide into twigs and so forth. See Hokidachi

bunjin - Japanese term for an educated person or literati, a tree grown in this style, usually emphasizing a thin trunk, with a lean appearance and container with rough-hewn appearance.

C

callus - The raised roll of tissue that forms as a wound heals and closes

cambium - The layer of tissue between the xylem and phloem, where new wood is formed.

chokkan - Japanese term for the formal upright style

clump style - see Kabaduchi

concave cutters

cutting - a bit of a plant that has been cut and rooted. A means to propagate.

D

deciduous - a plant that sheds its leaves and enters a state of dormancy annually

E

eda - Japanese term for branch

evergreen - a tree that does not shed its leaves in winter

F

fungicide - a chemical used to combat the growth of fungus

G

graft - to join a stem of one plant with another so they grow together. Grafting is used both to propagate plant species and to add foliage where none previously existed on a bonsai.

grafting knife

H

han-kengai - Japanese term for semi-cascade - See also Kengai

hokidachi - Japanese Term for Broom Style

I

ishitsuki - Japanese term for root-over-rock style

J

jin - Pronounced JEEN - Japanese term for snags of deadwood on the ends of branches or trunk.

K

kabaduchi - Japanese term for clump style bonsai

kengai - Japanese term for cascade style. See also han-kengai