''Picea breweriana'', known as Brewer spruce, Brewer's weeping spruce, or weeping spruce, is a species of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

native to western North America, where it is one of the rarest on the continent. The specific epithet ''breweriana'' is in honor of the American botanist

William Henry Brewer William Henry Brewer (September 14, 1828 – November 2, 1910) was an American botanist. He worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School. Biography Wil ...

Description

Brewer spruce is a large

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

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 ...

growing to tall, exceptionally 54 m, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m. The bark is thin and scaly, and purple-gray in color. The crown is very distinct, distinguished by level branches with vertically pendulous branchlets up to , each branch forming a 'curtain' of foliage. The pendulous foliage only develops when the tree grows to about 1.5–2 m tall; young trees smaller than this (up to about 10–20 years old) are open-crowned with sparse, level branchlets. The shoots are orange-brown, with dense short pubescence about 0.2 millimetres long and very rough with

pulvini A pulvinus (pl. ''pulvini'') is a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvini are common, for example, in members of the bean family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) and the prayer plant ...

1–2 mm long. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are borne singly on the pulvini, and are needle-like (though not sharp), 15–35 mm long, flattened in cross-section, glossy dark green above, and with two bands of white

stomata In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is bor ...

below. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are longer than most other North American spruces, pendulous, cylindrical, long and 2 cm broad when closed, opening to 3–4 cm broad. They have smoothly rounded, thin, flexible scales 2 cm long. The immature cones are dark purple, maturing red-brown 5–7 months after pollination. The

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s are black, 3–4 mm long, with a slender, 12–18 mm long pale brown wing. ''Picea breweriana'' grows very slowly, typically less than per year. It occurs mainly on ridgetop sites with very heavy winter snow to provide a steady source of meltwater through the spring, but dry in the summer. The harsh ridgetop conditions minimize competition from other much faster-growing trees like

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

. It is very well adapted to cope with heavy snow and ice loads, with tough branches, and the drooping branchlets shedding snow readily.

Genome

DNA analysesRan, J.-H., Wei, X.-X. & Wang, X.-Q. 2006. Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of ''Picea'' (Pinaceae): Implications for phylogeographical studies using cytoplasmic haplotypes. '' Mol Phylogenet Evol.'' 41(2): 405–19.Sigurgeirsson, A. & Szmidt, A.E. 1993. Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications of chloroplast DNA variation in Picea. ''Nordic Journal of Botany'' 13(3): 233–246. have shown that ''Picea breweriana'' has a basal position in the ''Picea''

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

, suggesting that ''Picea'' originated in North America.

Distribution

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 ...

to the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

of southwest Oregon and northwest California, and grows at moderately high altitudes, from above sea level.Farjon, A. (1990). ''Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera''. Koeltz Scientific Books .Rushforth, K. (1987). ''Conifers''. Helm .

Uses

Outside its native range, ''P. breweriana'' is a highly valued ornamental tree in gardens, particularly in Great Britain and Scandinavia, where it is appreciated for its dramatically pendulous foliage. This plant has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. File:Picea breweriana foliage.JPG, Foliage of a young tree, Ridge above Bear Lake, Ca. File:Picea breweriana - weeping twigs2.jpg, The weeping twigs File:Picea breweriana2.jpg, Foliage File:Picea breweriana leaf1.jpg, Close-up foliage File:Picea breweriana (flowers).jpg, Fresh female cones File:Picea breweriana cones01.jpg, Mature male cones & developing female cone File:Picea breweriana mature cone.jpg, Mature cone

References

External links

*
Catalogue of Life: ''Picea breweriana''

* {{Authority control

breweriana Breweriana refers to articles containing a brewery or brand name, such as beer cans, beer bottles, bottle openers, beer labels, tin signs, beer mats, beer trays, beer tap, wooden cases and neon signs. United States In the US, the National Ass ...

Flora of the Klamath Mountains Endemic flora of the United States Flora of California Flora of Oregon Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of the Northwestern United States Endemic flora of Oregon