Bonsai: the Greening Oriental Art

You Texas Cuspidata! Not you, and not a curse: Taxus cuspidata, for Japanese Yew! So, don’t confuse a plant with the Ibex Ilex serrata – that’s Christmas Holly Or Japanese Winterberry Butterflies, butternuts, a Buttinsky? Shut your eyes, it’s Conocarpus erectus (Pastor here is only saying "Buttonwood" in Latin) Meanwhile in nature, the pines of Japan Are dwarfed like bottled thunder: Pinus thunbergiana The Christmas Spirit is perennial in China (?) Schinus terebinthifolius (Again, Latin for another plant: Christmasberry) Try to bonsai gladly; A creeper in your home or villa; Haha! Bourgainvillea glabra My dad called this beauty, Pride of India! Myrtle set me right, but India won at the end: Laegerstroemia indica Neighbors, boyhood buddies, international relations? Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry? No plant connection: Just Hackberry named Celtis sinensis (c) Modified 20170417, Deo. This poem was previously published in my book in 2005 (UnAmerican Education: Poetry and Politics, by Red Lead Press)