Picea purpurea
Purple Spruce ( Picea purpurea)
The Purple Spruce ( Picea purpurea) is a species of the pine family ( Pinaceae ). It is native to central China.
Description
The Purple spruce grows as a evergreen tree can reach the stature heights of up to 50 meters and diameter at breast height of up to 1 meter. The stem ends in a pyramid-shaped crown. The dark gray Stammborke is flaky. The bark of the branches has a dense pubescence and is initially pale yellow or brown yellow, discolored with time but grayish to yellowish gray.
The resinous winter buds are conical in shape. The straight to slightly curved, keeled on both sides needles are 0.7 to 1.2 inches long and 0.15 to 0.18 inches wide. They have a wide diamond - shaped cross-section and its tip is blunt to pointed. On the needle base are four to six on the needle top no, or sometimes one or two incomplete Stomatalinien.
The Purple spruce is monoecious - getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ) and flowering time is in April. The pins are cylindrical, oval shaped, with a length of 2.5 to 6 centimeters, and a thickness of 1.7 to 3 centimeters to ovate. They are matured in October towards reddish-purple over dark purple to black colored purple. The papery seed scales are rhombic - ovate shaped with a length of 1.3 to 1.6 centimeters and a width of approximately 1.3 centimeters. Its edge is wavy and irregularly toothed. The seeds are approximately 0.9 inches long, together with the brown, marked with violet spots seed wings.
Distribution and location
The natural range of the purple - spruce, located in central China. It includes where the southern Gansu, eastern Qinghai and the northwestern Sichuan.
The Purple spruce grows at altitudes 2600-3800 meters. It grows in the mountains, especially on north-facing slopes on gray-brown mountain soils or mostly podsolisierten Lithosolen. When air is a cool continental climate with low rainfall, one of which gets most than snow. The Purple spruce forms pure stands or mixed stands with other pine plants, such as Farges Fir ( Abies fargesii ), Larix potaninii, the bristles spruce (Picea asperata ), Wilson's Spruce ( Picea wilsonii ) and at lower altitudes, the Chinese hemlock ( Tsuga chinensis ). In the mixed stands, there are also deciduous trees such as birch (Betula ) and poplars (Populus ), and at lower elevations and oak (Quercus ).
Threats and conservation
Picea purpurea is classified as "low risk" in the IUCN Red List. The main hazard timber felling are mentioned together with the low rate of regeneration. The total number of species is declining and has declined in the last hundred years. For this reason, the Chinese government has banned felling timber in sensitive areas.
Use
The high-quality wood of the Purple spruce is being used. It is similar in quality to the Likiang spruce (Picea likiangensis ).
System
Picea purpurea is within the genre of spruce (Picea ) the subgenus Casicta, the section Sitchenses and serial Likiangenses assigned.
The first description as Picea purpurea was made in 1906 by Maxwell Tylden Masters in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany, Volume 37 (262 ), page 418
Swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Picea purpurea. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, November 28, 2012, accessed on 16 November 2013 ( English).
- Liguo Fu, Nan Li, Thomas S. Elias & Robert R. Mill: Pinaceae. Picea. In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven & Hong Deyuan (eds.): Flora of China. Cycadaceae through Fagaceae. Volume 4, Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis in 1999, ISBN 0-915279-70-3, Picea purpurea, S. 30 ( this printed work is the same text online, Picea purpurea - Online).