Schrenk's Spruce

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Schrenk's Spruce

Forest at Kaindy Lake, southeast Kazakhstan

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Pinaceae
Genus:	Picea
Species:	P. schrenkiana

Binomial name

Picea schrenkiana
Fisch. & C.A.Mey.

Schrenk's Spruce (Picea schrenkiana) is a spruce native to the Tian Shan mountains of central Asia in western China (Xinjiang), Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It grows at altitudes of 1,300-3,600 m, usually in pure forests, sometimes mixed with the Tien Shan variety of Siberian Fir (Abies sibirica var. semenovii).

It is a large evergreen tree growing to 40-50 m tall (rarely to 60 m), with a trunk diameter of up to 1-2 m. It has a narrow conical crown with level branches and sometimes pendulous branchlets. The shoots are pale buff-brown, and glabrous (hairless). The leaves are needle-like, 1.5-3.5 cm long, rhombic in cross-section, dark green with inconspicuous stomatal lines. The cones are cylindric-conic, 6-12 cm long and 2 cm broad, purple when young, maturing dark brown and opening to 2.5-3.5 cm broad 5-7 months after pollination; the scales are moderately stiff and smoothly rounded.

There are two subspecies:

Picea schrenkiana subsp. schrenkiana. Eastern Tian Shan, in Kazakhstan and Xinjiang. Leaves longer, 2-3.5 cm long.
Picea schrenkiana subsp. tianshanica (Rupr.) Bykov. Western Tian Shan, in Kyrgyzstan. Leaves shorter, 1.5-2.5 cm long.

It is closely related to, and in many respects intermediate between, Morinda Spruce (P. smithiana) from further south in the Himalaya, and Siberian Spruce (P. obovata) further north in Siberia.

[edit] Uses

Schrenk's Spruce is an important tree in central Asia for timber and paper production, where few other large trees exist; its slower growth compared to Norway Spruce reduces its importance outside of its native range. It is occasionally grown as an ornamental tree in large gardens in Europe.