Picea farreri

Page et Rushforth 1980

Common names

Farrer spruce, 缅甸云杉 mian dian yunshan [Chinese].

Taxonomic notes

Description

Trees to 35 m tall, with spreading branches and pendulous branchlets forming an open, broadly conical crown. Bark gray and scaly. Branchlets olive brown to pale orange-brown in both 1st and 2nd year, with a pubescence that wears off. Leaves directed forward on upper side of branchlets, slightly directed forward on lower side, blue-green with slight bloom, (1.5-)1.8-2.3(-2.5) cm long, flattened, covered with white wax on upper surface, with 5-6 stomatal lines in each of 2 bands on lower surface, apex acute. Pollen cones conical-cylindric, 20-25×3 mm. Seed cones sessile, brown, cylindric, (6-)7-9.5(-10)×3-4 cm when open. Seed scales obovate, convex, 0.8-1.2×1-1.6 cm, outer margin incurved, rounded. Seeds 16×5 mm including wing (Wu and Raven 1999).

Distribution and Ecology

China: W Yunnan (Nu Jiang valley); N Myanmar (Fen-Shui-Ling valley); at 2400-2700 m elevation; typically in small, pure stands in open forest. In Myanmar, occurs in cool, wet limestone mountains with heavy monsoon rains (Wu and Raven 1999). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Remarkable Specimens

Ethnobotany

Observations

The only confirmed occurrence, Fen-Shui-Ling Valley, is at 25° 30' N, 98° 15' E (WCMC). Given the current political situation in Myanmar, visiting the site is unlikely, but this may change before all of the trees are cut. It can be found in some arboreta.

Remarks

The epithet remembers the collector, Reginald Farrer, who died while collecting plants in Upper Burma.

Citations

Page, C. N. and K. D. Rushforth. 1980. Picea farreri, a new temperate conifer from Upper Burma. Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 38(1):129-136.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.