See POWO for several good photographs of the species in habitat.
Conservation Status
Picea linzhiensis
Linzhi spruce, 林芝云杉 [Chinese].
Type: China, Xizang (Tibet), Linzhi, 3100 m elevation, Fu Guoxun 676 (Holotype PE). Basionym: Picea likiangensis var. linzhiensis W.C. Cheng & L.K. Fu. Syn.: P. likiangensis subsp. linzhiensis (W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu) Silba; P. likiangensis var. linzhiensis f. bicolor W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu.
Rushforth (2008) raised this taxon to species rank based on an argument that it is sufficiently divergent in form and ecological properties from its relatives P. likiangensis and P. spinulosa. Lockwood et al. (2013), in their molecular phylogeny of Picea, placed P. linzhiensis and 2 varieties of P. likiangensis together in a clade sister to P. farreri. A very detailed molecular analysis by Shao et al. (2019) placed P. linzhiensis sister to P. spinulosa, sister to a clade including P. farreri, P. brachytyla var. complanata, and P. likiangensis var. likiangensis. A molecular clock suggests divergence of these taxa coincided with the Miocene/Pliocene transition, at which time increasing atmospheric CO2 levels caused a general climatic warming and increased aridity in central China, along with an intensified monsoonal circulation (Ao et al. 2021).
Trees to 50 m tall and 220 cm dbh, typically with a single straight trunk and a conical or columnar crown of long, slender, spreading or ascending branches. Bark silvery gray, rough and scaly, with thin brownish fissures. Twigs light brown or orange-brown, turning gray in later years; with prominent ridges, fine grooves, and brown pubescence with glandular hairs; pulvini 1 mm long, emerging at 60-90° to shoot axis. Foliar buds ovoid-conical, 5-9 × 4-5 mm, resinous only at base; bud scales small, triangular, appressed but later free at apex, reddish brown, persisting several years. Leaves spreading radially, assurgent above shoot but widely parted below, 8-20(-30) × 1-1.5 mm, linear, straight or curved, stiff, rhombic in cross-section, stomata on upper surface (rarely 1 or 2 lines on lower surface), apex hard pungent; glossy green above, gray-green below. Pollen cones axillary, 20-25 mm long, red maturing yellow. Seed cones terminal, first erect but pendulous at maturity, sessile or on a short-oblique peduncle, ovoid with oblique base and obtuse apex, 5-12 × 3-5 cm when scales are open, purplish maturing brown or reddish brown. Seed scales thin, flexible, obovate or rhombic, 15-22 × 10-15 mm at mid-cone, abaxial surface smooth and glabrous, upper margin obtuse or constricted-incurved, apex often wavy. Bracts rudimentary, 2 mm long, fully included. Seeds ovoid-conical, 2 mm long, dark brown, with a 7-14 mm light brown ovate-oblong wing (Farjon 2010).
The primary difference from similar species (P. likiangensis, P. purpurea, P. spinulosa) is the non-resinous foliar buds; also the hairs on the twigs are glandular, not stiff and bristly; and the leaf apex although pungent is not beveled (Rushforth 2008).
China: SW Sichuan, NW Yunnan, SE Xizang (Tibet). Rushforth (2008) observed it in the Yarlung-Tsangpo Gorge area of Tibet, where it forms almost pure stands at elevations of 3000-3800 m, usually above a mixed conifer forest where P. spinulosa is the dominant spruce. At the lower elevation Pinus armandii may be common, while at the upper elevation Larix and Abies become codominant, transitioning to an Abies forest at even higher elevations. Common understory trees include Betula szechuanica, B. utilis, Acer caudatum, Malus baccata, and Sorbus spp.
No data as of 2025.01.23.
This species is exploited for timber production, the wood used for poles, construction, furniture, and pulp. The bark yields tannin, resin is tapped or distilled from the wood, and the leaves produce essential oils. It is probably also fairly common in cultivation in Europe and North America, as introductions from within the range of P. linzhiensis have been made in the past under the name P. likiangensis (Farjon 2010).
No data as of 2025.01.23.
The epithet refers to the type locality, Linzhi (now known as Nyingchi) in Xizang.
Ao, H., Rohling, E.J., Zhang, R. et al. 2021. Global warming-induced Asian hydrological climate transition across the Miocene–Pliocene boundary. Nat Commun 12, 6935. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27054-5.
Lockwood, Jared D., Jelena M. Aleksic, Jiabin Zou, Jing Wang, Jianquan Liu, and Susanne S. Renner. 2013. A new phylogeny for the genus Picea from plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69:717-727.
Rushforth, K. 2008. Spruces (Picea: Pinaceae) in the Yarlung Tsangpo drainage of southeast Tibet (Xizang, China). International Dendrology Society Yearbook 2007:42–53.
Shao, Cheng-Cheng, Ting-Ting Shen, Wei-Tao Jin, Han-Jie Mao, Jin-Hua Ran, and Xiao-Quan Wang. 2019. Phylotranscriptomics resolves interspecific relationships and indicates multiple historical out-of-North America dispersals through the Bering Land Bridge for the genus Picea (Pinaceae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 141: 106610.
Last Modified 2025-02-10
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