Ask someone what looks “tropical” in Kagoshima and the first answer is usually palm trees.
Fair enough. There are palms.
But palms have been planted outside hotels, resorts, theme parks and coastal roads all over Japan. They are basically the nationwide chain store of tropical scenery.
What can feel much stranger is an ordinary street tree.
The trunk itself looks hairy because little fern-like plants are growing all over it. And it is not just one tree.
A likely culprit is nokishinobu, Lepisorus thunbergianus, an evergreen epiphytic fern.
0. The 30-second answer: the tropical feeling may come from plants living on plants
Kagoshima has several obvious southern-looking plants: Washington palms, Phoenix palms, cycads, banyan-like gajumaru, akou figs and pandanus.
But planted palms do not prove that a place has a unique southern ecosystem. Kagoshima Prefectural Museum materials themselves list Washington palms and Phoenix palms among introduced street trees.
Shiroyama in central Kagoshima City, however, has documented epiphytes including mamezuta, shinobu, hitotsuba and nokishinobu.
Nokishinobu is not unique to Kagoshima. It occurs widely in Japan from southern Hokkaido southward.
Still, Kagoshima provides a plausible setting for abundant trunk vegetation. Its 1991–2020 normal annual precipitation is 2,434.7 mm, compared with 1,578.9 mm in Nagoya, and autumn and winter are warmer.
So the striking scene may not be “there is a palm tree.”
It may be:
“Even the normal street trees have other plants living on their trunks.”
The tree has become an apartment building for plants.
1. What are the obvious “tropical-looking” plants?
Washington palms
Tall, narrow trunks with a crown of leaves. They scream “southern boulevard,” but they are commonly planted for scenery.
Phoenix palms
Thicker trunks and large feather-like leaves. They look like a resort entrance and are also widely used as landscaping.
Cycads
They look palm-like but are not palms. Their rigid leaves radiate from a thick trunk, producing a convincing “a dinosaur could appear here” atmosphere.
At Cape Sata, the southern tip of mainland Kagoshima, cycads grow in groups, and the native habitat is nationally protected.
Gajumaru and akou figs
These warm-climate trees can develop complicated trunks and roots that look as if the tree is swallowing itself.
Gajumaru can be seen around Cape Sata, while official information on the Amami Islands describes lowland forests containing akou and gajumaru.
Pandanus
Long, stiff leaves form dense crowns, and the fruit can look a little like a pineapple.
Pandanus communities occur near coasts in the Amami Islands.
Here the tropical impression stops being mere landscaping and starts becoming vegetation.
2. The plant that makes you ask “what is growing out of that tree?”
Nokishinobu is an evergreen fern in the family Polypodiaceae.
Its narrow leaves grow directly from bark, so from a distance it can look as if:
the tree grew hair, grass started halfway up the trunk, or the street tree forgot to shave.
University botanical material describes nokishinobu as widespread from southern Hokkaido through Japan and also in Korea, China, Taiwan and the Philippines. It grows on the bark of large trees, cliffs and other surfaces.
So the species is not a Kagoshima exclusive.
The unusual part is how frequently it can enter your field of view in an ordinary urban landscape.
3. It is not stealing food from the tree
A plant growing on another plant may look parasitic.
Nokishinobu is generally not.
Plants that use trunks or rocks as a place to live are called epiphytes. Educational material from Fukuoka University of Education explains that epiphytes differ from parasites because they obtain their own water and nutrients.
The tree is an apartment building, not a refrigerator.
Nokishinobu reproduces by spores. If spores reach a suitable crack or rough patch of bark, they may establish there.
It uses rain when available and tolerates dry periods.
No soil?
Apparently, not a deal-breaker.
4. Why can Kagoshima’s trunks look so crowded?
This needs one important caveat: there is no simple citywide survey proving that every Kagoshima street tree carries more nokishinobu than every tree in central Japan.
But several background factors make the observation reasonable.
Kagoshima is wetter
Japan Meteorological Agency normals for 1991–2020 give Kagoshima annual precipitation of 2,434.7 mm.
Nagoya records 1,578.9 mm.
That is a difference of roughly 856 mm.
Kagoshima stays warmer in late autumn and winter
Normal mean temperatures for October–December are:
- Kagoshima: 21.6°C, 16.2°C, 10.9°C
- Nagoya: 18.6°C, 12.6°C, 7.2°C
Yet climate alone does not determine epiphytes.
Research on nokishinobu and related epiphytic ferns shows that light, water conditions and position within the host tree matter. Tree size, bark texture, age, local shade and nearby sources of spores can matter too.
The honest explanation is therefore:
regional climate + the individual tree + the local microenvironment + time.
Not one magic “southern” switch.
5. Shiroyama shows that “plants on trees” are real urban Kagoshima ecology
Vegetation surveys at Shiroyama in central Kagoshima City recorded epiphytes such as:
- mamezuta
- shinobu
- hitotsuba
- nokishinobu
A 2026 document on Shiroyama states that more than 500 plant species, including ferns and epiphytes, have been confirmed there.
That is remarkable for a forest immediately beside the city center.
Plants on the ground. Plants in the understory. Trees above them. And more plants living on the trees.
Low vacancy rate.
At the giant camphor tree of Shibushi, a prefectural page reports 24 species of epiphytic plants on the trunk.
One tree can function like an ecological high-rise.
6. A better way to look for Kagoshima’s “southern” feeling
Palms are easy to notice, but they can be planted almost anywhere.
So look at trunks.
Narrow strap-like leaves growing from bark
Think nokishinobu or a similar fern.
Small rounded leaves creeping over bark
Mamezuta is one possibility.
A green carpet
Likely mosses or similar organisms.
Roots and trunks becoming bizarre sculptures
Warm-climate figs such as gajumaru or akou become candidates.
You do not need a botanical garden.
A traffic light can become a field survey.
7. Nokishinobu also exists in central Japan, and that does not cancel the observation
Nokishinobu is widely distributed in Japan.
So “it exists only in Kagoshima” would be wrong.
But this statement can still be perfectly reasonable:
“I rarely noticed it in central Japanese cities, but in Kagoshima I suddenly saw it on many street trees.”
Distribution and visibility are different questions.
The same species can create a different streetscape depending on:
- abundance
- host-tree species
- bark
- light
- rain
- winter temperatures
- pruning and cleaning
- tree age
Regional difference is not only “present or absent.”
It is also how ordinary the organism becomes in everyday scenery.
8. Go farther south and landscaping turns into subtropical vegetation
In Kagoshima City, planted palms and Phoenix palms help create a southern image.
At Cape Sata, cycads and gajumaru surround the walking route.
Farther south in the Amami Islands, official prefectural information describes lowland vegetation with akou and gajumaru, coastal pandanus communities and mangroves.
Kagoshima Prefecture stretches far north to south, so the vegetation changes in stages:
Kagoshima City: warm-temperate city → Cape Sata: distinctly subtropical mainland edge → Amami: full subtropical island vegetation
Calling the whole prefecture simply “tropical” loses the interesting gradient.
The plant operating system changes as you travel south.
9. Conclusion: stop looking only at the palm trees
If you want to notice Kagoshima’s southern character, do not look only at obvious palms.
Phoenix palms, cycads and gajumaru are fun, but one of the most revealing details may be far less dramatic:
ferns and mosses casually occupying ordinary street-tree trunks.
Nokishinobu is a nationwide species.
Yet when multiple urban trees look furry with epiphytes, the environment suddenly becomes visible.
Palms make the tourism poster.
Nokishinobu quietly takes over the bark.
To see Kagoshima differently, look at the trunk.
References (9)
- Kagoshima Prefectural Museum, vegetation of Shiroyama
https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/bc05/hakubutsukan/shien/documents/98095_20240409095122-1.pdf - Kagoshima Prefecture, vegetation of Kagoshima Castle / Shiroyama
https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ab10/documents/127250_20260324141030-1.pdf - Kagoshima Prefecture, Giant Camphor Tree of Shibushi
https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/bc05/hakubutsukan/tennen/kuni_tennen/13shibushi-okusu.html - Kagoshima tourism, Cape Sata
https://www.kagoshima-kankou.com/guide/10387 - Kagoshima Prefecture, Amami Gunto National Park
https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ad04/kurashi-kankyo/kankyo/sizenkouen/kennai/amamikokuritu.html - Japan Meteorological Agency, Kagoshima climate normals
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?block_no=47827&prec_no=88 - Japan Meteorological Agency, Nagoya climate normals
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?block_no=47636&prec_no=51 - Okayama University of Science, Nokishinobu
https://www1.ous.ac.jp/garden/hada/plantsdic/pteridophyta/polypodiaceae/nokisinobu/nokisinobu.htm - Fukuoka University of Education, epiphytes
https://staff.fukuoka-edu.ac.jp/fukuhara/keitai/5-2.html
