"Pinus Parviflora Complex"
The classification of pines with five needles per fascicle has been discussed in length and still puzzles taxonomists. N.T. Mirov who has studied these pines, as well as others, states in his monograph The Genus Pinus, that the reclassification of Pinus parviflora should be studied further.
In my second book, The Encyclopedia of Classical Bonsai Art, Volume 2, Japanese Five-needle Pine, Nature, Gardens, Bonsai & Taxonomy, I basically said that some taxonomists have split Pinus parviflora into two separate species, Pinus pentaphylla (which is northern) and Pinus himekomatsu (from the south). Two famous plant explorers, Philip Sielbold and Joseph Zuccarini originally described and classified the Japanese five-needle pine as Pinus parviflora in 1842. Other explorers have also studied this species and slit them into the two other species.
But we are generally growing Japanese five-needle pine, Pinus parviflora for bonsai. In the horticultural world the name Japanese white pine is used commonly used for this species. However in the bonsai world we generally use the name Japanese five-needle pine since it is closest to the Japanese translation of "goyo matsu" (pine with five leaves).
Not to make things more difficult, but there are also a few other pine species with five needles per fascicle native to Japan. Japanese stone pine, Pinus pumila is sometime trained for bonsai in Japan. The others are rarely trained for bonsai in Japan.
By the way, in Japan the bonsai artists do not care if Japanese five-needle pine is a Pinus parviflora, Pinus pentaphylla or Pinus himekomatsu. They just call this species "goyo matsu". It is important to realize that most of the Japanese bonsai artists do not have the background, nor interest to discuss taxonomy. They are only interested in training and growing bonsai, as are most of the bonsai artists around the world.
Hope this helps,
Bill
PS: My pine book as well as Volume 1 on propagation techniques used to create bonsai have long been out of print and are difficult to locate.