Picea neoveitchii

Masters 1903

Common names

Veitch spruce, Hubei spruce (Farjon 1990); 大果青扦 daguo qingqian [Chinese] (Wu and Raven 1999).

Taxonomic notes

Description

Trees to 15 m tall and 50 cm dbh, with a broadly conical crown. Bark gray, scaly, flaking. Branchlets pale yellow turning gray or yellow-gray in 2nd and 3rd years, finally gray or dark gray; stout, glabrous. Leaves spreading radially, curved and directed forward on upper side of branchlets, spreading and ascending on lower side, rhombic in cross section, 15-25×2 mm, with 4-7stomatal lines along each surface, apex acute. Seed cones green, maturing brown, ovoid-cylindric, 8-14 × 5-6.5 cm. Seed scales rhombic-ovate, 2.7 × 2.7-3 cm, apex broadly rounded or obtuse. Seeds obovoid, 5-6 × 3.5 mm, with a 10 mm wing. Pollination May, seed maturity September-October (Wu and Raven 1999). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

China: S Gansu, SW Henan (Weixing Xian), W Hubei, S Shaanxi, NE Shanxi (Wutai Shan), Sichuan; at 1300-2000 m elevation (Wu and Raven 1999). Hardy to Zone 5 (cold hardiness limit between -28.8°C and -23.3°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

"The species is very rare and scattered within its range in montane coniferous forest on the southern slopes of the Qinling Range. The forest has experienced large reductions in extent and the entire population has declined in numbers, especially at Neixiang. A good stand is apparently still found in Xinja Shan" (WCMC 1998).

Remarkable Specimens

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

The epithet refers to James Veitch, a prominent British nurseryman who funded E. H. Wilson's plant collecting work in China (Wilson ended up naming quite a few discoveries for his patron, among them Abies veitchii). The "neo" was added on because at the time "Picea veitchii" was in use in the horticultural trade, although no species had been described under that name (Masters 1903).

Citations

Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.

Masters, M. T. 1903. Chinese Conifers. Gardeners Chronicle ser. 3. 33:116. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2020.11.26 (includes photo and drawing).

World Conservation Monitoring Centre - Trees [WCMC]. 1998. Database at http://www.wcmc.org.uk/cgi-bin/SaCGI.cgi/trees.exe, accessed 1998.10.01, now defunct.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.