Hubei Spruce

An endangered species much in need of protection. The timber is used for construction, poles, furniture, and wood pulp.

Trees to 15 m tall; trunk to 50 cm d.b.h.; bark gray, scaly, flaking; crown broadly conical; branchlets initially pale yellow or with a little brown, turning gray or yellow-gray in 2nd and 3rd years, finally gray or dark gray, stout, glabrous; winter buds globose, slightly resinous, scales purplish brown, appressed at base and apex of branchlets. Leaves spreading radially, curved and directed forward on upper side of branchlets, spreading and ascending on lower side, quadrangular-linear, longitudinally rhombic in cross section, 1.5-2.5 cm × ca. 2 mm, stomatal lines 4-7 along each surface, apex acute. Seed cones green, maturing pale brown or brown, rarely yellow-green, oblong- or ovoid-cylindric, 8-14 × 5-6.5 cm. Seed scales at middle of cones rhombic-ovate, ca. 2.7 × 2.7-3 cm, distal margin thinner, denticulate or almost entire, apex broadly rounded or obtuse. Seeds obovoid, 5-6 × ca. 3.5 mm; wing obovate, ca. 1 cm. Pollination May, seed maturity Sep-Oct.

S Gansu, SW Henan (Neixiang Xian), W Hubei, S Shaanxi, NE Shanxi (Wutai Shan), Sichuan

* Scattered on mountain slopes and in river basins, or on rocky talus; 1300-2000 m.

In 2012, Picea neoveitchii was included among the world's 100 most threatened species in a report by the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Zoological Society of London.

(Baillie & Butcher 2012; Harvey 2012)

Picea neoveitchii (Chinese: 大果青扦) is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in China. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Picea neoveitchii is an endemic spruce species of central China. Several scattered communities and individuals can be found growing on the southern slopes of Qinling Mountains in Baotian Man Nature Preserve, Henan province between 1240 and 2020 meters elevation. This spruce species is especially vulnerable to extinction due to the high fragmentation of its natural habitat from human disturbance. Current conservation efforts are focused on preserving natural habitats, managing invasive species to reduce competition, and prohibiting timber harvest. Conservation researchers emphasize the urgent need for a restoration project which reintroduces seedlings across the tree's original range (within protected forest areas), and protects wild communities and individuals. (Zhang et al. 2006).