26 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



forests, alt. 3000-4000 m., June and July 1908 (Nos. 2074, 2065; tree 

 10-45 m. tall, girth 1-4 m.) ; west and southwest of Tachien-lu, woods 

 and forests, alt. 3000-3500 m., October 1910 (No. 4083; tree 20-30 m. 

 tall, girth 1.5-2.5 m.); same locality, June 1904 (Veitch Exped. No. 

 3029^). 



This is a very common Spruce in the neighborhood oT Tachien-lu and one of 

 the principal constituents of the upland forests in that region.^ In general appear- 

 ance it resembles the Picea Abies Karsten, but it is often very glaucous. The bark 

 of adult trees is grey and peels off in thin plates of irregular size and shape and 

 exposes a dun-coloured layer below. The shoots are glabrous or very rarely slightly 

 hairy, usually golden yellow, very seldom " fusco-aurantiaci " as described by 

 Masters, and change to grey the third or fourth year. The cone is symmetrical, 

 pale, shining brown becoming darker with age and is retained on the tree for nearly 

 a year after the seeds have dispersed. The cone-scales are rounded or rhombic 

 erect-spreading and always fetriated. It is unfortunate that Masters founded this 

 species mainly on cones which, as he himself suspected, were malformed through 

 an infestation of a common fungus, Pleosporopsis strobilorum. Masters cites No. 

 3030^, but in the herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum the number referable to his 

 P. reflexa is No. 3029^. 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 169, 170, 171 of the collection of 

 Wilson's photographs in his Vegetation of Western China, Nos. 342, 343. 



Picea aurantiaca Masters in Jour. Linn. Soc. XXXVII. 420 (1906). — 

 Beissner, Handb. Nadelholzk. ed. 2. 257 (1909). — Patschke in Bot. 

 Jahrh. XLVIII. 632 (1913). 



Western Szech'uan: neighborhood of Tachien-lu, Cheto-shan, 

 forests and open country, alt. 2600-3800 m., July and October 1908, 

 October 1910 (Nos. 2058, 2069, 4081; tree 10-25 m. tall, girth 1-2 m.); 

 same locality, a.t. 3000-4000 m. July 1903 (Veitch Exped. No. 3029, 

 type). 



This is a rather local species so far known only from the regions to the west 

 and southwest of Tachien-lu. Adult trees are very spire-like in appearance and 

 but sparingly branched. The bark is very distinct being pale grey, almost white, 

 in color, rough and exfoliating in relatively thin, irregularly oblong plates. The 

 young shoots vary from deep orange to dull orange, and are of ten slightly pruinose ; 

 they became greyish the fourth or fifth year. The ripe cones are from 11-12 cm. 

 long, very symmetrical, dull cinnamon-brown passing to shining chestnut-brown 

 with broad, rounded, sub-coriaceous slightly erose scales, and fall from the tree a 

 month or so after they have shed the seeds. 



A picture of this tree will be found under No. 230 of the collection of Wilson's 

 photographs and also in his Vegetation of Western China, No. 348. 



Picea Neoveitchii Masters in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, XXXIII. 116, fig. 

 50, 51 (1903); in Jour. Bot. XLI. 270 (1903); in Jour. Linn. Soc. 

 XXXVII. 421 (1906). — Beissner in Mitt. Deutsch. Dendr. Ges. XII. 

 68 (1903); Handh. Nadelholzk. ed. 2, 249 (1909). — Mayr, Fremdl. 



