Picea obovata

Forest with Siberian spruce in the Russian Chelyabinsk Oblast

The Siberian Spruce ( Picea obovata ) is a species of the family (Pinaceae ). It is native to northern Eurasia.

Description

The Siberian spruce grows as a evergreen tree that can reach the stature heights of up to 40 meters and diameter at breast height of up to 1 meter. The stem ends in a pyramid-shaped crown. The dark gray Stammborke flakes off in irregular shaped pieces. The hairy bark of the branches is beginning to pale yellow-brown yellow and discolored gray with time.

The resinous, light yellow brown winter buds are conical. The curved needle is linear square shaped with a length from 1.3 to 2.3 inches and a width of about 0.2 inches and have a square or broad - rhombic cross section. Your tip is pointed. At the needle upper side there are five to seven and the bottom four to five Stomatalinien.

The Siberian spruce is monoecious - getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ) and the flowering period is in May. The pins are oval to cylindrical in shape, with a length from 5 to 11 centimeters and a thickness of 2 to 3 centimeters cylindrical. They are initially purple to dark purple and discolored to mature in September or October to go brown. The seed scales are wedge - to obovate and 1.8 to 2.1 inches long and 1.5 to 1.8 inches wide. The triangular - ovate to almost the, dark brown seeds are about 5 millimeters long. You have an oblong- ovate wrong - wing, which is 0.9 to 1.1 inches long.

Distribution and location

The natural range of the Siberian Spruce is located in northern Eurasia. It extends from the European part of Russia east to Kamchatka and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. To the south it extends to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

The Siberian spruce grows at least in China at altitudes from 1200 to 2000 meters. She is a tree species of the boreal forest. The species grows mainly in mountains on mountain slopes, along rivers and in valleys on shallow permafrost. The temperatures at the sites can fall below -60 ° C in winter. From Northern Europe to the Urals in the formation of mixed stands with the Commons Spruce (Picea abies) with the Siberian spruce Picea × fennica the hybrids formed. On wet sites in the eastern area of ​​distribution frequently occurs mixed stand with the formation Dahurischen larch (Larix gmelinii ). In the southern area of ​​distribution occur mainly pure stands, except in the Altai where the Siberian fir ( Abies sibirica ) occurs as vergesellschafte kind. At more profound locations with well -aerated soils can also find different types of birch (Betula ) and poplars (Populus ) and in dry locations and the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) grows associated with the Siberian spruce.

The Siberian Spruce is " not endangered" than in the IUCN Red List. There are no known hazards inventory.

Use

The wood of the Siberian spruce is used as a timber for the production of carvings, masts and paper use. From the bark tannins are obtained.

System

Picea obovata is within the genre of spruce (Picea ) the subgenus Picea, Picea section, the subsection Picea and Picea series assigned.

The first description as Picea obovata place in 1833 by Carl Friedrich von Ledebour in Flora Altaica, Volume 4, page 201

Where overlaps their range forms the Siberian spruce with the Commons Spruce ( Picea abies) the introgressive hybrid Picea × fennica from. In one of Konstantin Krutovskii and Fritz Bergmann in 1995, carried out studies of the isozymes showed that the Siberian and the common spruce only very small differ. They therefore assume that this is in fact two different geographical races of the same species.

Swell

• Christopher J. Earle: Picea obovata. In: The Gymnosperm Database. www.conifers.org, November 28, 2012, accessed on 17 August 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 obovata, p.26 ( this printed work is the same text online, Picea obovata - Online).