''Picea aurantiaca'' is a species of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, where it is only known from western

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. Its common name is orange spruce. This tree grows on steep mountain slopes on the edges of forests. It grows in a cold

subalpine climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

up to about 3800 to 4000 meters in maximum elevation. It can be found alongside ''

Picea likiangensis ''Picea likiangensis'', commonly known as Lijiang spruce, Lakiang spruce or Lijiang yunshan, is a species of spruce found in Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a lan ...

'' var. ''rubescens'', ''

Abies squamata ''Abies squamata'' is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. This fir is common in the Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau (China) in an altitude from 3200 m to tree-line in 4400 m. It is dominant on North-facing slopes and often grows with ...

'', ''

Larix potaninii ''Larix potaninii'' is a species of larch conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in China and Nepal. The one of southernmost species of the genus ''Larix'', the range of ''Larix potaninii'' extends southward almost to 27° N. Varieties , ...

'', and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

es. This species is closely related to ''

Picea asperata ''Picea asperata'' (dragon spruce; ) is a spruce native to western China, from eastern Qinghai, southern Gansu and southwestern Shaanxi south to western Sichuan. Description It is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 25–40 m tall, and w ...

'' and it is sometimes treated as a variety.

References

aurantiaca Endangered plants Endemic flora of China Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub