''Picea glehnii'', the Sakhalin spruce or Glehn's spruce, 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 family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae, or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces. The family is included in the order Pinales, ...

. It was named after a Russian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

and

Amur river The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

regions explorer,

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

hydrographer Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...

Peter von Glehn (1835—1876), the person who was the first to describe this conifer. In Japan people call this tree アカエゾマツ, which means “red spruce”.

Natural habitat

The spruce's natural habitat is situated on

Hokkaido Island is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. It also appears on

Mount Hayachine is the highest mountain in the Kitakami Range, located in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū, Japan. With an elevation of , it is the second highest in Iwate Prefecture after Mount Iwate. Mount Hayachine is mentioned in ''100 Famous Japanes ...

of the Kitakami range in the Northern part of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

(Iwate prefecture), as well as in the Southern part of Russian island

(along

Aniva Bay Aniva Bay (Russian: Залив Анива (''Zaliv Aniva''), Japanese: 亜庭湾, Aniwa Bay, or Aniva Gulf) is located at the southern end of Sakhalin Island, Russia, north of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. The largest city on the bay is Kors ...

, in the Mereya river valley, near Bolshoye Vavaiskoye lake and Busse lagoon). The tree also grows on Southern

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

(

Kunashir , other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area = , length = , width = fr ...

Shikotan ; ja, 色丹島 , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = 1 , major_islands = , area_km2 = 225 , length = , width = , coastline ...

and Southern

Iturup , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...

). Glehn's spruce grows within the range of 0 to 1600 meters above sea level in low places and on cold and excessively wet soil on rocky subsoil.

Description

The tree has thick cone-shaped branches with a trunk of about 62–73 centimeters in diameter. Spruces on Sakhalin grow as high as 17 meters, while some specimens growing on Japanese mountains are even 30 meters tall. Old trees’ bark is scaly and placoid and is colored in chocolate brown (this is the feature that distinguishes this species from others). Young sprouts are usually orange or wine red, haired in grooves and on stalk 1 millimeter in length. The buds are usually 3–7 millimeters long, nearly 5 millimeters wide and have a conical or ovoid form. The color of buds is reddish brown and they are slightly covered with resin. Their scales are triangle- or trigonal-shaped with a long awl-like tip. The tree's needles are about 10 millimeters long and 2,5 millimeters wide. They are four-sided and a bit curved, mature trees have blunt needles, while young ones have pointed bluish-green ones. When a needle is rubbed, it smells harsh. The cone has an oblong ovoid or oval form with almost flat base. It is 2–4 centimeters thick and 3,6–8,7 centimeters long. Its color is purple or green, brown and dark-red when mature with inversely ovoid seed scale and dark-red and brown base. The light-brown seeds are 2–2,4 centimeters long with yellowish orange wings which are 2–3 times longer than the seed itself. The tree is shade and frost tolerant. In planting it is well matched with

Dahurian larch ''Larix gmelinii'', the Dahurian larch or Gmelin larch, is a species of larch native to eastern Siberia and adjacent northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China (Heilongjiang), South Korea and North Korea. Description ''Larix gmelinii'' is a m ...

Hybrids

The tree makes a ''Picea'' × nothohybrid with Yezo spruce (''

Picea jezoensis ''Picea jezoensis'' (sometimes misspelled ''Picea yezoensis''), the dark-bark spruce, Ezo spruce, Yezo spruce, or Jezo spruce, is a large evergreen tree growing to 30–50 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m. It is native to northeast ...

'').

Conservation

The spruce is included into the Red Book of Sakhalin region, it is also kept under protection in Japanese national parks, especially in the area of

Honshu Island , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sep ...

References

glehnii Least concern plants Trees of Japan Trees of Siberia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{conifer-stub