Thuja standishii

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Tracheophyta
Divisio: Pinophyta
Classis: Pinopsida
Ordo: Pinales

Familia: Cupressaceae
Subfamilia: Cupressoideae
Genus: Thuja
Species Thuja standishii
Name

Thuja standishii (Gordon) Carrière, Traité Gén. Conif., ed. 2: 108 (1867)
Synonymy

Basionym
Thujopsis standishii Gordon, Pinetum, Suppl.: 100 (1862)
Heterotypic
Thuja japonica Maxim., Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg, sér. 3, 10: 490 (1866)
Thuja gigantea var. japonica (Maxim.) Franch. & Sav., Enum. Pl. Jap. 1(2): 469 (1875)
Thuja odorata Doi, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 29: 423 (1915), nom. illeg.

References

Carrière, É.A. 1867. Traité Général des Conifères 1: 108.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2017. Thuja standishii in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2017 Apr. 15. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2017. Thuja standishii. Published online. Accessed: Apr. 15 2017.
Tropicos.org 2017. Thuja standishii. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 15 Apr. 2017.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Thuja standishii in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Japanischer Lebensbaum
English: Japanese Arborvitae, Japanese Thuja
français: Thuya du Japon
русский: Туя складчатая
Türkçe: Japon mazısı

Thuja standishii (Japanese thuja; Japanese: nezuko, kurobe) is a species of thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It is native to southern Japan, where it occurs on the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. It is a medium-sized tree, reaching 20–35 m tall and with a trunk up to 1 m diameter.

The foliage forms in flat sprays with scale-like leaves 2–4 mm long, matte green above, and with narrow white stomatal bands below. The cones are oval, yellow-green ripening red-brown, 6–12 mm long and 4–5 mm broad (opening to 8 mm broad), with 6–10 overlapping scales.

It is an important timber tree in Japan, grown in forestry plantations for its durable, waterproof, attractively scented wood.

There is some evidence that extracts of T. standishii have biological activity. It contains a compound called standishinal which has shown relatively potent effects on the enzyme aromatase. It acts as an inhibitor, thus decreasing the synthesis of estradiol in the human body. This compound has been used in research and derivatives of it have shown even stronger inhibition of aromatase.
References

Carter, G.; Farjon, A. (2013). "Thuja standishii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T42264A2968225. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42264A2968225.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.

Further reading
Ohtsu, Hironori; Iwamoto, Manabu; Ohishi, Hirofumi; Matsunaga, Shunyo; Tanaka, Reiko (1999). "Standishinal, a novel carbon skeletal diterpene from the bark of Thuja standishii (Gord.) Carr". Tetrahedron Letters. 40 (35): 6419–6422. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(99)01191-0.
Katoh, Takahiro; Akagi, Taichi; Noguchi, Chie; Kajimoto, Tetsuya; Node, Manabu; Tanaka, Reiko; Nishizawa (Née Iwamoto), Manabu; Ohtsu, Hironori; Suzuki, Noriyuki; Saito, Koichi (2007). "Synthesis of dl-standishinal and its related compounds for the studies on structure–activity relationship of inhibitory activity against aromatase". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. 15 (7): 2736–2748. doi:10.1016/j.bmc.2007.01.031. PMID 17287126.