Polarised light micrograph of a longitudinal section through the phyllocladium of an umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata). Umbrella pines have very small leaves, which normally are overseen. The green spines, which look like the needles of the conifers are so called phyllocladia, which is a flattened stem or branch which more or less resembles a leaf, and performs the function of a leaf as regards respiration and assimilation. This is the hollow inner side of a phyllocladium with many trichomes (plant hairs) inside, which show bright birefringence in polarized light. The umbrella pine, also called the koyamaki or Japanese umbrella-pine, is a unique conifer endemic to Japan. It is the sole member of the family Sciadopityaceae and genus Sciadopitys, a living fossil with no close relatives, and known in the fossil record for about 230 million years. Magnification: x100 when printed at 10 centimetres wide.