Spruce - description, species, where it grows, reproduction, photo. Siberian spruce: photo, description, places of growth Siberian blue spruce

It is believed that the lush needles of this forest beauty has miraculous properties, and has a healing effect on the human body.

It is also called Pechora spruce, or Picea obovata, but there are other names for this beautiful, majestic tree. Among other representatives of the Pine family, this beauty occupies a worthy place. Under natural conditions, it can be seen in the European part of Russia, Siberia, the Scandinavian Peninsula, northern China and Mongolia.

In the photo, Siberian spruce

Description

Spruce is a wonderful decoration for any suburban area, its peculiarity is that it looks equally elegant at any time of the year. This tree not only decorates the landscape, but also makes the composition stylish and respectable.

Siberian spruce is a large tree with a trunk radius of up to half a meter. The height of a spruce is often 30 meters, but it all depends on the climatic conditions and the characteristics of the area where it grows. The height of a spruce growing for 12 years will be 4 meters.

Starting at the base, the crown has a narrow pyramidal or pyramidal shape. The tree has dark gray bark and short, no more than two centimeters, dark green needles.

At the age of eight, spruces begin to bloom, most often this happens in May, and in September the seeds ripen. The length of the cones increases until September, and is 6-8 cm, they are shiny, red-brown in color. Seed scales are the main species feature of this tree. Seeds are the basis of the diet of birds living in the forests of Siberia and some species of mammals. The pollen contained in male cones is carried by the wind over long distances and settles there.

The plant is quite cold-resistant, withstands frosts down to -45C, so spruce growing near buildings can often be seen in the north-east of our country.

The plant reproduces by seeds. Spruces are planted one by one or in groups, they look most impressive next to white-trunked birch trees.

Today, many species of this coniferous tree are known. Outwardly, their representatives are similar, they can only be distinguished by the color of the needles. There are green, silver, golden and bluish-gray firs, by the way, the latter are very rare, so its name can be found in the Red Book.

Features of care

Picea obovata does not require special care, soil fertility and moisture do not play a big role in its growth and development, it grows well in the shade. But still, like other plants, Siberian spruce has its own preferences, and you need to know them.

Although they ate shade-tolerant plants, those that grow in the sun certainly look better. Transplanting, trampling and compacting the soil - all this is not for them. Given the characteristics of the root system, it is not difficult to assume that, since it is superficial, then if the soil is heavy, the roots can be spoiled by a gusty wind. On fertile soils, the roots go deep, but where groundwater is close, spruce cannot be planted, in any case, spruce will not be healthy without drainage.

Spruce tolerates a haircut well, dried and diseased branches are removed regularly.

In hot and dry weather, spruce should be watered with warm water, do it every five to seven days, so that water does not fall on the needles. One application of fertilizer is enough (at the time of planting), it is not necessary to apply additional fertilizer. But some still do it every season, using complex fertilizers. In a special store you can buy fertilizers for coniferous plants. The trunk circle, especially young Christmas trees, is covered with mulch, as the latter it is recommended to use peat, needles, shavings.

Reproduction and cultivation

The seeds that fall out of the cones are carried by the wind, birds, insects and animals. If natural conditions are conducive to growth, then a young tree will soon grow. In a few decades it will turn into a forest beauty, and in 100 years it will become a real Siberian spruce.

Spruce can be planted with a woody cutting. It will take quite a long time to wait until the spruce grows from the seed, because in a year the future tree will grow by only 10 cm, and only after 7-8 years it can be planted where the spruce will grow constantly. In addition, diseases and pests pose a great danger to young spruces. As you can see, this is a very long and laborious process. Therefore, it cannot be called popular.

But still, if you choose this path, you can buy spruce seeds, including Siberian spruce, in specialized stores or nurseries.

But the easiest way is to bring spruce from the forest or from the nursery. Spruce planting begins in late autumn or winter. It is believed that the risk of damage to the root system by putrefactive bacteria at this time is minimal. The landing algorithm is quite simple.

1. First you need to choose a place. The darker the needles, the more shade-tolerant the plant.
2. They dig a hole, fill it with forest soil and compost, mineral fertilizers. Drainage must be laid out at the bottom of the hole.
3. The root neck cannot be lowered below ground level, the soil in the near-stem circle needs to be compacted only a little.

What pests pose a threat to this beautiful and elegant plant? Aphids, spider mites, moth caterpillars and spruce leafworm. You can fight them in traditional ways, using chemicals according to the instructions for their use.

Subspecies, along with (P. Fennica) one of two geographic races or ecotypes . Very similar on European spruce , more decorative, smaller (30 m), shorter bluish needles, coarse hairy shoots and smaller cones (3.5-8 cm), with entire seed scales.

Flowering cones of Picea obovata

Type description. A medium-sized tree about 35 m high (the highest known is 42 m high with a trunk of 1.5 m, on the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula, Lake Baikal). Unlike European spruce , has a more bluish-bluish foliation, a denser narrow-pyramidal crown. Shoots are reddish-brown to yellow-gray or almost white, often densely pubescent with short, sparse, reddish hairs, rarely glabrous.

The branches are furrowed, densely dotted with stumps of leaf scars, which are located on elongated leaf cushions, shortly pointed above and elongated downward. Moreover, the lower end of the pillow with the tip falls between the two underlying pillows. Kidneys are ovoid to oval, red-brown, non-resinous, bud scales tightly fitting, of which the lower ones often have a styloid point.

Pollinated cones of Picea obovata

The needles are linear-awl-shaped, green, hard, prickly, located alternately on the branches, denser and shorter than that of common spruce 10-15 (30) mm long and up to 1 mm wide. The needles are tetrahedral, on each side they have 2-3 weakly expressed stomatal stripes, which makes the overall needle bluish.

Old ripe cone of Picea obovata

Blossoms in May-June from 8 years old, seeds ripen in September. Male spikelets are yellow-orange or purple-red, oval, 12 mm long, 6-7 mm thick, several at the ends of branches. Female cones after pollination are reddish, erect, green or purple when ripe, later glossy, dark brown, pendulous, ovate-oval, 3.5-8 cm long, 2.5-4 cm in diameter. They ripen 4-6 months after pollination.

Appearance of the leaves of Picea obovata

Seed scales are thin, convex, fan-shaped, rounded at the upper end, rarely cut off, slightly obtuse, entire, sometimes slightly notched. The scale is brownish-yellow, shiny, slightly covered with matte short fluff. The species is most easily distinguished from Norway spruce along the seed coats. Covering scales 5 times shorter than seed scales, coarsely dentate at the apex, as if gnawed. Seeds 4 mm long, small, blackish, ovoid to pale yellowish, with a wing 3 times longer than the seed, ripen by the end of September in the year of pollination.

Ecological property of a species. It grows in the taiga of Western and Eastern Siberia, south to the Altai Mountains in the northwest to Mongolia. In the conditions of the continental climate, it forms pure and mixed plantations along the river valleys, as an accompanying species it is found in forests of various composition, together with fir, pine, larch and birch . The biological properties are close to those of . blue variety included in the Red Books of Buryatia, Irkutsk and Chita regions.

Picea obovata forest against the background of Zigalga - one of the ranges of the Southern Urals

In Belarus, it is grown in arboretums and parks, where, according to bioindicators, it differs little from European spruce. More winter hardy. Suitable for growing in zone 1-8 (frost resistance over -45.6°C). It is one of the most cold hardy known trees. In the CBS there are about 10 fruit-bearing trees 7-10 m high, self-seeding is not observed, since they have just entered the fruiting phase.

Reproduction and cultivation. Similar to European spruce. Spring sowing on a loose mineral substrate, followed by mulching and shading in the first years of life.

General view of an adult Picea obovata tree

Purpose and application. The wood is used for construction and paper production. From the needles, an essential oil is obtained, which is part of the pinabine medical preparation, as well as ascorbic acid. Among the people, young shoots are used as food as a vitamin supplement, scurvy is treated with an aqueous infusion of needles. Infusions of spring shoots, cones and needles are prescribed for colds, coughs, baths - for rheumatic pains, sciatica.

Landscape construction. In culture throughout central Russia to the far north. In terms of decoration and economic use, it is close to European spruce. More decorative Norway spruce denser, regular crown shape and pleasant bluish needles. In green building it is used within its range. In urban plantings, both ordinary spruce and a variety with blue needles are used. (P. obovata var. coerulea) . A very promising plant for Belarus.

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Where is spruce used?
Siberian spruce is considered one of the most resinous tree species. It is spruce that gives the greatest yield of resin - resin, which is usually mined by tapping. However, this method has not found application on an industrial scale. This is due, first of all, to the fact that spruce is highly susceptible to all kinds of diseases, rot, which greatly complicates the process of tapping. That is why today, when extracting resin, preference is given to pine tapping, which also gives a fairly large yield of resin.
Spruce wood is characterized by relatively light weight, as well as good flexibility. That is why spruce is widely used for the production of wooden roofing materials, as well as curved products, such as arcs, hunting skis, etc.
Due to the special composition of wood, spruce has found its application in the production of paper. The fact is that spruce wood consists of fairly long tracheids, which is very much appreciated in this area of ​​production.
Spruce forests also have a colmatizing role, that is, they act as a natural filter for melt water, removing solid particles from them, thereby protecting water sources from pollution.

piceasibiricavar.coerulea).

Morphology of the species.

Tree up to 25-30 m high and 0.5-1.0 m in trunk diameter. The crown is conical, or narrow-conical, of regular shape, rather dense. The branches are straight, slightly raised up. The bark is grey, finely fissured. The needles are needle-shaped, tetrahedral, 1.5-3 cm long, blue or silvery blue, hard. Male inflorescences are purple-red, collected at the ends of shoots, up to 1 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. Blooms in May. Cones 6-10 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, brown. In contrast to common spruce, the shields of the cones are not serrated at the ends, but evenly notched.

Biology and distribution.

It does not grow very fast, and at a young age it is noticeably slower than common spruce. Forms a compact crown. It is very frost-resistant, in the area it withstands frosts down to -60 degrees Celsius. It tolerates a lack of soil and air moisture better than common spruce. Grows well in the forest canopy, but prefers well-lit locations.

Homeland - Eastern Siberia, but not everywhere. This is mainly Buryatia, Altai Territory, and the southern part of Lake Baikal. Forms small copses, or groups of plants. Sometimes grows alone. It often grows along the banks of rivers and in their lower reaches, it also occupies the gentle slopes of mountains.

Picea obovata L.

Spruce- a tree up to 50 m tall, a representative of the pine family (Pipaceae). Distributed in the north of the forest zone, in the forests of the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East. Has been used in folk and scientific medicine.

The raw material is needles, cones, bark, resin. The needles contain a significant amount of essential oil, tannins, ascorbic acid, resins, trace elements. The composition of resin includes turpentine, turpentine, rosin, wood vinegar. The seeds contain fatty oil, and the bark contains up to 14% tannins.

From spruce needles, you can prepare a vitamin drink that prevents scurvy and increases the body's resistance to adverse environmental conditions.

The pharmaceutical industry produces the complex drug "Pinabin", made from spruce or pine needles in peach oil, it is prescribed as a diuretic for urolithiasis and renal colic.

In folk medicine an infusion of needles, spring shoots, spruce cones, they drink for protracted colds, make baths from needles for rheumatism, and an infusion of young shoots on vodka and a decoction of the kidneys are used for pulmonary tuberculosis. The resin is digested with pork fat, wax is added and the resulting ointment is used for furunculosis. A decoction of young branches and cones is drunk with dropsy, skin rashes. Spruce paws are boiled with salt and baths are made for sciatica. A decoction of young cones is used for catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, bronchial and cardiac asthma. Crushed dry resin treats wounds and ulcers. Turpentine is obtained from spruce resin, which is used as a distracting, warming and volatile agent (Sviridov, 1986). Fresh resin is used as an external hemostatic agent, and the smell of needles, cones, resin as a stimulant (Fruentov, 1985).