Picea koraiensis

Scientific name: Picea koraiensis  Nakai  1919

Synonyms: Picea intercedens Nakai, Picea tonaiensis Nakai

Common names: Korean spruce, El’ koreiskaya (Russian), Hongpi yunshan (Chinese), Chongbi namu (Korean)

Description

Tree to 20(-30) m tall, with trunk to 0.6(-0.8) m in diameter. Bark dark grayish brown or reddish brown, remaining flaky but also becoming shallowly furrowed at the base of large trees. Crown pyramidal, fairly open and thinning further with age, with horizontal or gently rising branches bearing short horizontal or slightly hanging side branches. New branchlets yellowish brown to reddish brown, usually hairless, a little hairy in the grooves of weak side branchlets. Buds 6-8(-13) mm long, resinous. Needles green to a little bluish green with wax, (0.6-)1-2(-2.2) cm long, straight or curved, diamond-shaped, with two to five lines of stomates on each side, blunt to pointed. Needles spreading relatively evenly all around the horizontal twigs. Pollen cones 10-25 mm long, red. Seed cones 5-8 cm long, green or with a reddish tinge before maturity, ripening yellowish brown. Seed scales egg-shaped to nearly circular, thinly woody and stiff, seed body (2-)3-4 mm long, the wing 9-12 mm longer.

Northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning), North Korea, and adjacent far southeastern Russia; (400-)1,000-1,800 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(Picea koraiensis forms extensive natural forests in NE China and in the Primorye district of Far East Russia, with much more restricted populations in North Korea. Despite some evidence of recent past decline in China, ongoing exploitation in Russia and a likely decline in North Korea, under the IUCN Red List Criteria, the decline is insufficient for listing under any category of threat and is hence listed as Least Concern)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.

Rootstock: Picea abies