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Picea abies (L.) Karst.
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Die Gemeine Fichte ist ein aufrecht wachsender immergrüner Baum, der Wuchshöhen von bis zu etwa 40 Meter erreichen kann; unter besonderen Bedingungen wurden schon 50 bis maximal 62 Meter gemessen. Damit ist sie neben der Weißtanne (Abies alba) der größte in Europa heimische Baum. Die Gemeine Fichte kann Stammdurchmesser bis 1,5 Meter erreichen. Fichten bilden Senkerwurzeln aus. Auf vernässten Standorten sterben diese jedoch ab und die verbleibenden Horizontalwurzeln bilden flache Tellerwurzeln, wodurch die Bäume stark windwurfgefährdet sind.
Die Krone der Gemeinen Fichte bildet sich um den gerade wachsenden Stamm kegelförmig aus. Die Zweige sind quirlig angeordnet. Während sie in der oberen Stammhälfte gewöhnlich aufrecht oder gerade ausgerichtet sind, hängen sie in der unteren Stammhälfte meist gebogen nach unten. Letzteres ist besonders gut bei älteren Bäumen zu beobachten. Bäume im Freistand behalten ihre grünen Zweige lange Zeit bis zum Boden und wachsen so als Mantelfichten.
Bei der Gemeinen Fichte haben sich auf Grund des großen Verbreitungsgebietes mit unterschiedlichen Standort- und Klimabedingungen sogenannte Ökotypen entwickelt, die sich in Bezug auf Verzweigung und auch Nadeln unterscheiden. Dabei unterscheidet sich die Kronenausformung insbesondere bei den zuerst angelegten Ästen, den Ästen 1. Ordnung sowie den davon abgehenden weiteren Verzweigungen, den Ästen 2. und höherer Ordnung. Bei den sogenannten Plattenfichten gehen die Äste 2. Ordnung horizontal ab. Bei den Kammfichten hängen die Äste 2. und höherer Ordnung dagegen durch. Bis in ein Alter von etwa 20 Jahren weist die Gemeine Fichte durchgängig eine plattenartige Verzweigung auf. Erst dann beginnt die Herausbildung dieser beiden Haupttypen der Kronenausformung.[3] Die jeweilige Kronenausformung scheint vor allem von Belichtungsverhältnissen, Standortgüte und Wasserversorgung beeinflusst. Kammfichten finden sich vor allem auf gut versorgten Standorten, während Plattenfichten auf nährelementarmen Moorstandorten und extremen Höhenlagen dominieren. Plattenfichten können Streulicht und senkrecht einfallendes Licht besser nutzen und stehen deshalb vor allem im Unterstand sowie an Südhängen. Kammfichten, die schräg einfallendes Licht effektiver nutzen, finden sich eher auf Nordhängen sowie im borealen Nadelwald.[4] Die Auflagefläche der Kammfichten ist gering, wovon sie in schneereichen Regionen profitieren. In stark windexponierten Lagen wie in Irland und Schottland findet man dagegen vor allem Plattenfichten, da ihre verkürzten Äste eine bessere Steifigkeit und ihre plattige Anordnung mehr Windschlüpfigkeit bietet. Die durchhängenden Äste der Kammfichte können in solchen Regionen dagegen leichter von starkem Wind abgerissen werden.[5]
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Rights holder/Author | Michael Wunderli, Michael Wunderli |
Source | http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemeine_Fichte |
Norway spruce, native to Europe, has become locally naturalized, at least in north central United States (and adjacent Canada). The species is the most widely cultivated spruce in North America; many cultivars exist, including dwarf shrubs.
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Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200005295 |
Norway spruce wood is strong, soft, straight- and fine-grained, and
easily worked [17,87]. It is not durable in contact with soil. It is
widely used for construction, pulp, furniture, and musical instruments
[17,80]. Norway spruce is one of the most common and economically
important coniferous species in Europe and Scandinavia [46]. In Maine,
thinned material and standing dead Norway spruce produced pulp of good
strength as reported in a study of the pulp potential of seven softwoods [16].
Comments: Grow best in shady or partially shaded locations in deep, rich, moist soil (Elias, 1980).
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Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
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More info for the term: tree
Tree
The wood of Norway Spruce is used to make furniture, musical instruments (pianos & violins), pulp, and in general construction. It is light-colored, light-weight, rather soft, and reasonably strong. Norway Spruce has the longest seed cones of any spruce (Picea sp.) in Illinois; they exceed 4" in length, while the seed cones of other spruces within the state (which are largely cultivated) are less than 4" in length. Spruces resemble firs (Abies spp.), but their mature seed cones hang downward from their branches. In contrast, the mature seed cones of firs are erect. Spruces produce their leaves individually along their twigs and branches, while pines (Pinus spp.) produce their leaves in clusters (typically 2-5 leaves per cluster). Thus, spruces are fairly easy to distinguish from firs and pines. Like Norway Spruce, other spruces in Illinois are rarely observed in the wild. The coniferous trees in this group are more typical of boreal regions or mountainous areas where the climate is more cool and damp.
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Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/nor_spruce.html |
Habitat and Ecology
Systems
- Terrestrial
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Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/42318 |
Norway spruce seedlings are not usually present on burned areas; the
soils are usually too dry and hot to support good seedling establishment [74].
Picea abies, the Norway spruce,[2] is a species of spruce native to Central and Eastern Europe. It grows up to 55 m (180 ft) tall, and bears needles 12–24 mm (0.47–0.94 in) long and cones 9–17 cm (3.5–6.7 in) long. It is very closely related to the Siberian spruce, Picea obovata, which replaces it east of the Ural Mountains, and with which it hybridises freely. Picea abies is widely planted for its wood, and is the species used as the main Christmas tree in several cities around the world. It was the first gymnosperm to have its genome sequenced, and one clone has been measured as 9,550 years old.
Contents
Description[edit]
Picea abies is a large, fast-growing evergreen coniferous tree growing 35–55 m (115–180 ft) tall and with a trunk diameter of 1 to 1.5 m. It can grow fast when young, up to 1 m (3 ft) per year for the first 25 years under good conditions, but becomes slower once over 20 m (66 ft) tall.[3] The shoots are orange-brown and glabrous (hairless). The leaves are needle-like, 12–24 mm long, quadrangular in cross-section (not flattened), and dark green on all four sides with inconspicuous stomatal lines. The cones are 9–17 cm long (the longest of any spruce), and have bluntly to sharply triangular-pointed scale tips. They are green or reddish, maturing brown 5–7 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 4–5 mm long, with a pale brown 15 mm wing.[4][5][6][1][7]
The tallest measured Norway spruce, 63 m (207 ft) tall, is in Perucica Virgin Forest, Sutjeska National Park, Bosnia-Herzegovina.[citation needed]
Range and ecology[edit]
Picea abies grows throughout Europe from Norway in the northwest and Poland eastward, and also in the mountains of central Europe, southwest to the western end of the Alps, and southeast in the Carpathians and Balkans to the extreme north of Greece. The northern limit is in the arctic, just north of 70° N in Norway. Its eastern limit in Russia is hard to define, due to extensive hybridisation and intergradation with the Siberian spruce, but is usually given as the Ural Mountains. However, trees showing some Siberian spruce characters extend as far west as much of northern Finland, with a few records in northeast Norway. The hybrid is known as Picea × fennica (or P. abies subsp. fennica, if the two taxa are considered subspecies), and can be distinguished by a tendency towards having hairy shoots and cones with smoothly rounded scales.[4][5][6]
Norway spruce cone scales are used as food by the caterpillars of the tortrix moth Cydia illutana, whereas Cydia duplicana feeds on the bark around injuries or canker.
Cultivation[edit]
The Norway spruce is one of the most widely planted spruces, both in and outside of its native range, and one of the most economically important coniferous species in Europe.[8] It is used as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It is also widely planted for use as a Christmas tree. Every Christmas, the Norwegian capital city, Oslo, provides the cities of New York, London (the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree), Edinburgh and Washington D.C. with a Norway spruce, which is placed at the most central square of each city. This is mainly a sign of gratitude for the aid these countries gave during the Second World War.[citation needed]
In North America, Norway spruce is widely planted, specifically in the northeastern, Pacific Coast, and Rocky Mountain states, as well as in southeastern Canada. It is naturalised in some parts of North America. There are naturalised populations occurring from Connecticut to Michigan, and it is probable that they occur elsewhere.[8] Norway spruces are more tolerant of hot, humid weather than many conifers which do not thrive except in cool-summer areas and they will grow up to USDA Growing Zone 8.
In the northern US and Canada, Norway spruce is reported as invasive in some locations, however it does not pose a problem in Zones 6 and up as the seeds have a significantly reduced germination rate in areas with hot, humid summers.
The Norway spruce tolerates acidic soils well, but does not do well on dry or deficient soils. From 1928 until the 1960s it was planted on surface mine spoils in Indiana.[8]
The Norway spruce is used in forestry for timber and paper production.
The tree is the source of spruce beer, which was once used to prevent and even cure scurvy.[9]
It is esteemed as a source of tonewood by stringed-instrument makers.[10]
Picea abies shoot tips have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (as syrup or tea) and externally (as baths, for inhalation, as ointments, as resin application or as tea) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract and infections.[11]
Longevity[edit]
A press release from Umeå University says that a Norway spruce clone named Old Tjikko, carbon dated as 9,550 years old, is the "oldest living tree".[12]
However, Pando, a stand of 47,000 quaking aspen clones, is estimated to be between 80,000 and one million years old.[13][14][15]
The stress is on the difference between the singular "oldest tree" and the multiple "oldest trees", and between "oldest clone" and "oldest non-clone". The oldest known individual tree (that has not taken advantage of vegetative cloning) is a Great Basin bristlecone pine over 5,000 years old (germination in 3051 BC).[16]
Genetics[edit]
The Norway spruce genome was sequenced in 2013, the first gymnosperm genome to be completely sequenced.[17] The genome contains approximately 20 billion base pairs and is about six times the size of the human genome, despite possessing a similar number of genes. A large proportion of the spruce genome consists of repetitive DNA sequences, including long terminal repeat transposable elements. Despite recent advances in massively parallel DNA sequencing, the assembly of such a large and repetitive genome is a particularly challenging task, mainly from a computational perspective.[18]
Chemistry[edit]
p-Hydroxybenzoic acid glucoside, picein, piceatannol and its glucoside (astringin), isorhapontin (the isorhapontigenin glucoside), catechin and ferulic acid are phenolic compounds found in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots of Norway spruces.[19]Piceol[20] and astringin[21] are also found in P. abies.
Taxonomy[edit]
Populations in southeast Europe tend to have on average longer cones with more pointed scales; these are sometimes distinguished as Picea abies var. acuminata (Beck) Dallim. & A.B. Jacks., but there is extensive overlap in variation with trees from other parts of the range.[4][5][6]
Some botanists treat Siberian spruce as a subspecies of Norway spruce, though in their typical forms, they are very distinct, the Siberian spruce having cones only 5–10 cm long, with smoothly rounded scales, and pubescent (hairy) shoots.[4][5][6]Genetically Norway and Siberian spruces have turned out to be extremely similar and may be considered as two closely related subspecies of P. abies.[22]
Another spruce with smoothly rounded cone scales and hairy shoots occurs rarely in the Central Alps in eastern Switzerland. It is also distinct in having thicker, blue-green leaves. Many texts treat this as a variant of Norway spruce, but it is as distinct as many other spruces, and appears to be more closely related to Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), Schrenk's spruce (Picea schrenkiana) from central Asia and Morinda spruce (Picea smithiana) in the Himalaya. Treated as a distinct species, it takes the name Alpine spruce (Picea alpestris (Brügger) Stein). As with Siberian spruce, it hybridises extensively with Norway spruce; pure specimens are rare. Hybrids are commonly known as Norwegian spruce, which should not be confused with the pure species Norway spruce.[4][5][6]
Synonyms[edit]
Picea abies (L.) H. Karst is the accepted name of this species. More than 150 synonyms of Picea abies have been published.[23]
Homotypic synonyms of Picea abies are:[24]
- Pinus abies L.
- Abies picea Mill.
- Pinus pyramidalis Salisb.
- Pinus abies subsp. vulgaris Voss
- Abies abies (L.) Druce
Some heterotypic synonyms of Picea abies are:
- Abies alpestris Brügger
- Abies carpatica (Loudon) Ravenscr.
- Abies cinerea Borkh.
- Abies clambrasiliana Lavallée
- Abies clanbrassiliana P. Lawson
- Abies coerulescens K. Koch
- Abies conica Lavallée
- Abies elegans Sm. ex J.Knight
- Abies eremita K.Koch
- Abies erythrocarpa (Purk.) Nyman
- Abies excelsa (Lam.) Poir.
- Abies extrema Th.Fr.
- Abies finedonensis Gordon
- Abies gigantea Sm. ex Carrière
- Abies gregoryana H. Low. ex Gordon
- Abies inverta R. Sm. ex Gordon
- Abies lemoniana Booth ex Gordon
- Abies medioxima C.Lawson
- Abies minuta Poir.
- Abies montana Nyman
- Abies parvula Knight
- Abies subarctica (Schur) Nyman
- Abies viminalis Wahlenb.
- Picea alpestris (Brügger) Stein
- Picea cranstonii Beissn.
- Picea elegantissima Beissn.
- Picea excelsa (Lam.) Link
- Picea finedonensis Beissn.
- Picea gregoryana Beissn.
- Picea integrisquamis (Carrière) Chiov.
- Picea maxwellii Beissn.
- Picea montana Schur
- Picea remontii Beissn.
- Picea rubra A. Dietr.
- Picea subarctica Schur
- Picea velebitica Simonk. ex Kümmerle
- Picea viminalis (Alstr.) Beissn.
- Picea vulgaris Link
- Pinus excelsa Lam.
- Pinus sativa Lam.
- Pinus viminalis Alstr.
Cultivars[edit]
Several cultivars have been selected for garden use; they are occasionally traded under the obsolete scientific name Picea excelsa (an illegitimate name). The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Farjon, A. (2011). "Picea abies". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ "BSBI List 2007" (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ Mitchell, A.F. (1974). A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-212035-6
- ^ a b c d e Farjon, A. (1990). Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera. Koeltz Scientific Books ISBN 3-87429-298-3.
- ^ a b c d e Rushforth, K. (1987). Conifers. Helm ISBN 0-7470-2801-X.
- ^ a b c d e Gymnosperm Database: Picea abies
- ^ Den Virtuella Floran: Picea abies distribution (in Swedish, with maps)
- ^ a b c Sullivan, Janet (1994). "Picea abies". Fire Effects Information System. United States Forest Service. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
- ^ Karellp. "New Beer – Spruce Beer". The Black Creek Growler. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ Here is more than you perhaps ever cared to know about European spruce...
- ^ Vogl, S.; Picker, P.; Mihaly-Bison, J.; Fakhrudin, N.; Atanasov, A.G.; Heiss, E.H.; Wawrosch, C.; Reznicek, G.; Dirsch, V.M.; Saukel, J.; Kopp, B. (7 October 2013). "Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine – an unexplored lore. In vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 149 (3): 750–771. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC 3791396. PMID 23770053.
- ^ "World's oldest living tree discovered in Sweden". Umeå University. April 16, 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Quaking Aspen by the Bryce Canyon National Park Service
- ^ Mitton, J.B.; Grant, M.C. (1996). "Genetic variation and the natural history of quaking aspen". BioScience 46 (1): 25–31. JSTOR 1312652.
- ^ Swedish Spruce Is World's Oldest Tree: Scientific American Podcast
- ^ "Old List". Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ Nystedt, B.; Street, N.R.; Wetterbom, A.; Zuccolo, A.; Lin, Y.C.; Scofield, D.G.; Vezzi, F.; Delhomme, N.; Giacomello, S.; Alexeyenko, A. et al. (30 May 2013). "The Norway spruce genome sequence and conifer genome evolution". Nature 497 (7451): 579–584. doi:10.1038/nature12211. PMID 23698360.
- ^ Birol, I.; Raymond, A.; Jackman, S.D.; Pleasance, S.; Coope, R.; Taylor, G.A.; Yuen, M.M.; Keeling, C.I.; Brand, D.; Vandervalk, B.P. et al. (2013). "Assembling the 20 Gb white spruce (Picea glauca) genome from whole-genome shotgun sequencing data". Bioinformatics 29 (12): 1492–1497. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btt178. PMC 3673215. PMID 23698863.
- ^ Münzenberger, B.; Heilemann, J.; Strack, D.; Kottke, I.; Oberwinkler, F. (1990). "Phenolics of mycorrhizas and non-mycorrhizal roots of Norway spruce". Planta 182 (1): 142–148. doi:10.1007/BF00239996.
- ^ Løkke, Hans (June 1990). "Picein and piceol concentrations in Norway spruce". Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 19 (3): 301–309. doi:10.1016/0147-6513(90)90032-Z. PMID 2364913.
- ^ Lindberg, M.; Lundgren, L.; Gref, R.; Johansson, M. (1 May 1992). "Stilbenes and resin acids in relation to the penetration of Heterobasidion annosum through the bark of Picea abies". Forest Pathology 22 (2): 95–106. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0329.1992.tb01436.x.
- ^ Krutovskii, Konstantin V.; Bergmann, Fritz (1995). "Introgressive hybridization and phylogenetic relationships between Norway, Picea abies (L.) Karst., and Siberian, P. obovata Ledeb., spruce species studied by isozyme loci". Heredity 74 (5): 464–480. doi:10.1038/hdy.1995.67.
- ^ "Picea abies (L.) H. Karst". The Plant List. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ "Picea abies (L.) H.Karst., Deut. Fl.: 325 (1881). Homotypic Synonyms.". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector – Picea abies 'Little Gem'". Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "RHS Plant Selector – Picea abies 'Nidiformis'". Retrieved 26 May 2013.
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