Picea spinulosa

Taxobox
name = Sikkim Spruce
status = LR/lc | status_system = IUCN2.3
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Pinophyta
classis = Pinopsida
ordo = Pinales
familia = Pinaceae
genus = "Picea"
species = "P. spinulosa"
binomial = "Picea spinulosa"
binomial_authority = (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.

References

*

External links

* [http://www.conifers.org/pi/pic/spinulosa.htm Gymnosperm Database]