Bonsai is a Japanese word which is literally translated as "planted in a container". As its name implies, it is art form using trees grown in small containers.
The practice of bonsai is sometimes confused with dwarfing but dwarfing generally refers to research, discovery, or creation of plant cultivars that are permanent, genetic miniatures of existing species. Genetically modified trees can be large or small and it has resulted in inbreeding. Bonsai does not require genetically dwarfed trees but rather depends on growing small trees from regular stock and seeds. Bonsai uses cultivation techniques like pruning, root reduction, potting, defoliation, and grafting to produce small trees that mimic the shape and style of mature, full-size trees.
The purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for the viewer and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. By contrast with other plant cultivation practices, bonsai is not intended for production of food or for medicine. Instead, bonsai practice focuses on long-term cultivation and shaping of one or more small trees growing in a container.
A bonsai is created beginning with a specimen of the source material. This may be a cutting, seedling, or small tree of a species suitable for bonsai development. Bonsai can be created from nearly any perennial woody-stemmed tree or shrub species that produces true branches and can be cultivated to remain small through pot confinement with crown and root pruning.
The source specimen is shaped to be relatively small and to meet the aesthetic standards of bonsai. When the candidate bonsai near its planned final size it is planted in a display pot, usually, one designed for bonsai display in one of a few accepted shapes and proportions. From that point forward, its growth is restricted by the pot environment. Throughout the year, the bonsai is shaped to limit growth, redistribute foliar vigor to areas requiring further development, and meet the artist's detailed design.
A "bonsai" is a continuous act of root reduction, potting, and defoliation and limiting the tree's growth (it is applicable in any type of plant but should be big enough). It is largely different from "dwarfing", as "dwarfing" is a form of selectively breeding small trees in order to get that size. The opposite of "dwarfing" is the selective breeding large trees. Bonsai has no opposite because there's no way we can "unlimit" their space, as "unlimiting" them just makes them grow into normal full-size trees.
As my rule of bonsai making, the bonsai must be 2% the size or mass of the original full-sized tree. As an example, a mango tree which grows to 25 meters, will become only 50 centimeters.
Example trees edit
| Tree | Height | Proportional bonsai height | Picture |
|---|---|---|---|
| African boabab (Adansonia digitata) | 25 m | 50 cm | 
|
| Desert rose (Adenium obesum) | 2 m | 4 cm | 
|
| Great bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spectabilis) | 5 to 12.5 m | 10 to 25 cm | .jpg)
|
| Common box, European box, or boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) | 10 m | 20 cm | 
|
| Fukien tea tree or Philippine tea tree (Carmona retusa) | 25 m | 50 cm | 
|
| Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia) | 32 m | 64 cm | 
|
| Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) | 25 m | 50 cm | 
|
| Common cotoneaster (Cotoneaster integerrimus) | 4 m | 8 cm | 
|
| European beech or common beech (Fagus sylvatica) | 25 to 32 m (50 m maximum) | 50 to 64 cm (100 cm maximum) | 
|
| Common fig (Ficus carica) | 10 m | 20 cm |
|
| Common juniper (Juniperus communis) | 10 m (rarely 16 m) | 20 cm (rarely 16 cm) | 
|
| Crape myrtle or crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) | 5 m | 10 cm | 
|
| Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) | 40 m | 80 cm | 
|
| Pomegranate (Punica granatum) | 32 m | 64 cm | .jpg)
|
| Common myrtle (Myrtus communis) | 2–4 m | 4–8 cm | 
|
| Olive (Olea europaea) | 8–16 m | 16–32 cm | 
|
| Common guava (Psidium guajava) | 5 m | 10 cm | 
|
| Umbrella tree (Schefflera digitata) | 8 m | 16 cm | 
|
| Giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum) | 64 m (average height), 100 m (maximum height) | 128 cm (average height), 200 cm (maximum height) | 
|
| California redwood, coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) | 50 m | 100 cm | 
|
| Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) | 32 m | 64 cm | 
|
| European yew or common yew (Taxus baccata) | 10–20 m (exceptionally up to 25 m) | 20–40 cm (exceptionally up to 50 cm) | 
|
| Field elm (Ulmus minor) | 32 m | 64 cm | 
|