Kumgang-Kuksunamu, living monument
November 13, 2026There are many rare animals and plants in Mt Kumgang, a celebrated mountain in the DPRK.
Among them, Kumgang-Kuksunamu, or Pentactina rupicola, is a plant of only a single species indigenous to the DPRK.
The trees grow, mainly taking their roots in rock crevices, in the section of Manphok Valley of Inner Kumgang in Mt Kumgang.
The unifoliate tree has a thin and smooth stalk and oval leaves. The flower consists of five petals which are thin like a thread and the two spots in the middle are slender as if there is a joint.
The tree bears follicles which ripen around August.
When it grows 80 to 90 years old, the tree is 1.3 metres tall on average, 0.3 metre round at the root neck and 0.2 metre round at the chest height and the crown is 0.8 metre wide.
Kumgang-Kuksunamu under good protection as a natural monument is of great academic significance in clearing up the relations between the plants belonging to rose and saxifrage orders.
THE PYONGYANG TIMES