- Picea orientalis
- Caucasus, Asia Minor
Genus
Picea comes from the Latin word picis and means resin, pitch (spruce, pitch pine).
Evergreen conifer, about 50 species, from 50 meter high trees to 50 centimetre small ornamental trees in various growth forms from dwarf trees spread out flat, spherical, to snake and hanging form; from dark green to blue needle color. Can live up to 600 years.
The distribution area extends from Europe to the Arctic Circle, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and China.
Growth: slender, conical; straight trunks.
The needles are evergreen, square in two rows, forward-facing dark green, up to two centimeters long.
Male and female flowers are separate on one plant; male flowers: oval-red, they dust yellow; female flowers: upright, larger, purple-red, winged seeds.
The cones are up to 20 centimetres long and four centimetres thick, drooping (unlike the true firs of the genus Abies, not to be confused with upright cones).
In Central Europe it is hardy and a fast-growing tree; therefore it is cultivated in the forestry industry in plantations for rapid timber utilization in all trades.
Heavily decimated by climate change, susceptible to windthrow, limited drought resistance, aphid and bark beetle infestation.
Information on the species
Picea orientalis = Oriental spruce, native to the mountains up to 2,100 meters above sea level in the Caucasus and Asia Minor
Growth: narrow, conical, 30 to 60 meters high and with a six to eight meter wide crown
Bark: dark brown, scaly bark
Leaves: evergreen, dark green needles only six to eight millimetres long
Flowers: male flower ovoid, red; female flower 2 to 2.5 centimetres long, purple
Fruits: cones cylindrical, five to eight centimetres long and two to three centimetres thick, purple before ripening; ripe: brown drooping
Wood use: crafts of all kinds, decorative greenery