Xmas Conifer ID Please

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neefman East Bridgewater, MA Mar 01, 2014

This healthy conifer had some nice cones on it. The needles looked sharp like a Colorado Blue Spruce, but were actually quite soft. The cones don't look quite right for a CB Spruce either. Is it some cultivar of it?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 01, 2014

Serbian Spruce Picea omorika

Resin

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neefman East Bridgewater, MA Mar 01, 2014

Thanks. Besides purple cones what are the best ID features of this species?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 01, 2014

Flat needles with blue-white stomatal bands on the lower surfaces (there are other spruces with this, but they're pretty rare in cultivation, and have different cones)

Resin

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RosemaryK Lexington, MA(Zone 6a) Mar 23, 2014

Hi, Can I chime in here? I like plants, but I am not any kind of formally trained botanist. Isn't it true that having those purple cones located only in the top third of the tree is one of the special attributes of Picea omorika? Is there any other tree that is quite like that?

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Mar 23, 2014

The female reproductive structures (cones) in conifers are often found higher in the plant than the male reproductive structures.

Most conifers are wind-pollinated, so when air movement caresses a tree it will often blow the pollen from the male reproductive structures upward to where the female reproductive structures are located higher in the tree.

Resin - guru of all Coniferae - can provide more detail to this normal condition.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 24, 2014

Yep, plenty of spruces - and other conifers - have purple cones at the top of the tree. Of them, the most similar to Picea omorika is Picea mariana, which has shorter needles and slightly denser growth. Some others include Picea purpurea, Picea glehnii, Picea likiangensis, Picea jezoensis, Picea breweriana, and more, which all differ in various ways from Picea omorika.

Resin

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RosemaryK Lexington, MA(Zone 6a) Mar 24, 2014

The variety and the similarities in nature make it quite fascinating to learn and observe them. Thanks for the purple cone list.

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Pseudo Eau Claire, WI(Zone 4a) Mar 25, 2014

Since we're talking cones, are junipers the only conifer to have berry-like cones? Oh wait, as I was typing I realized Yews also have berry-like cones. OK, are yews and junipers the only conifers to have berry-like cones, and are they still called cones?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 25, 2014

Quote from Pseudo :
Since we're talking cones, are junipers the only conifer to have berry-like cones? Oh wait, as I was typing I realized Yews also have berry-like cones. OK, are yews and junipers the only conifers to have berry-like cones, and are they still called cones?


Almost all of the genera in the southern hemisphere conifer family Podocarpaceae also have berry-like cones. As none of them are hardier than zone 7, you won't meet any of them in Wisconsin though.

Yep, juniper and yew "berries" are correctly called cones (that's what they are structurally), but few people outside of authors of technical botanical literature actually do so.

Resin

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Mar 25, 2014

And participants here that have been properly counseled...

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Mipii (Robin) Blissfield, MI(Zone 6a) Mar 25, 2014

Yeah.

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RosemaryK Lexington, MA(Zone 6a) Mar 26, 2014

Who would have thunk it?

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