Picea spinulosa
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| Sikkim Spruce | ||||||||||||||
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| Picea spinulosa (Griff.) A.Henry |
The Sikkim Spruce (Picea spinulosa) is a spruce native to the eastern Himalaya, in Sikkim and Bhutan. It grows at altitudes of 2,400-3,700 m in mixed coniferous forests.
It is a large evergreen tree growing to 40-55 m tall (exceptionally to 65 m), and with a trunk diameter of up to 1-2.5 m. It has a conical crown with level branches and usually pendulous branchlets.
The shoots are whitish to pale buff, and glabrous (hairless). The leaves are needle-like, 1.7-3.2 cm long, slender, rhombic to slightly flattened in cross-section, glossy green on the upper side, with two conspicuous blue-white stomatal bands on the lower side. The cones are cylindric-conic, 6-12 cm long and 2 cm broad, green or tinged reddish when young, maturing glossy orange-brown to red-brown and opening to 3 cm broad, 5-7 months after pollination; the scales are moderately stiff, with a bluntly pointed apex.
Sikkim Spruce is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in large gardens in western Europe for its attractive pendulous branchlets.
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Picea spinulosa. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006.
