30 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



Picea Balfouriana Rehder & Wilson, n, sp. 



Arbor 15-40-metralis, trunco 0.3-1 m. diam. procero, cortice 

 cinereo, subtus pallide fulvo, profunde in lamellas crassas irregulares 

 fisso; rami satis breves, horizontaliter patentes; ramuli dense villosi 

 tomento ad tertium annum persistente, juniores flavidi v. pallide 

 flavo-cinerei, vetustiores cinerei; pulvini leviter turgidi, oblongi, 

 apice obtusi, petiolis plus minusve villosis circiter 1 mm. longis 

 patentibus v. erecto-patentibus, cicatricibus transverse rhombicis v. 

 fere triangularibus; gemmae late ovatae v. conicae, obtusae, leviter 

 resinosae, perulis arete adpressis castaneis v. avellaneis nitidulis 

 persistentibus. Folia spiraliter disposita, linearia, quadrangularia, 

 compressa, recta v. leviter curvata, utrinque carinata, subacuta v. 

 obtusa, rarissime pungentia, 8-15 mm. longa et 1.5 mm. lata, supra 

 utrinsecus stomatum seriebus 4-7, dorso utrinsecus stomatum seriebus 

 1-4. Strobili ovato- v. ovali-oblongi, violaceo-purpurei, squamis 

 extus ad apicem brunnescentibus, 5-9, plerumque 6-8 cm. longi, 

 decidui 6-8 menses post maturitatem, squamis infimis cum re- 

 dunculo in ramo remanentibus; bracteae ovatae, acutae, circiter 2.5 

 mm. longae; squamae flexiles striatae, erecto-patentes, rhombico- 

 ovatae, 2-2.5 cm. longae et 1.3-1.5 cm. latae, infra medium latissimae,' 

 saepe infra apicem contractae et productae, supra medium erosae et 

 plerumque plus minus laciniatae et undulatae, basi late cuneatae v. 

 subito contractae et interdum leviter auriculatae; semina alls obo- 

 vatis circiter 1 cm. longis vix dimidiam squamam aequantibus 

 nitidis brunneis purpureo-punctulatis, testa cinereo-brunnea minute 

 puberula. 



Western Szech' u an: west of Tachien-lu, Orangche, forests, 

 alt. 3600^000 m., October 1910 (No. 4080, type); northeast of 

 Tachien-lu, Ta-p'ao-shan, forests, alt. 3300-4000 m., July 1908 (No. 

 2055, 2059); west of Kuan Hsien, Pan-lan-shan, forests, alt. 3300- 

 3600 m., October 1910 (No. 4065). 



This new Spruce is one of the tallest of the Chinese species. The trunk is mast- 

 like with short, spreading branches giving a spire-like appearance to the tree. 

 The species is characterized by its thick, deeply furrowed bark, densely villose 

 shoots, compressed leaves obscurely stomatiferous on the dorsal surface, violet- 

 purple cones with membranous, flexible cone-scales rhombic-ovate in shape, 

 elongated in the upper half where they are undulate, laciniate or erose, and 

 ascending-spreading in the open cone. 



It is most closely related to P. purpurea Masters, which has a thicker and more 

 massive trunk, stouter more wide-spreading branches and becomes flat-headed 

 in old individuals; it has more flattened, shorter and straight leaves, and much 

 smaller cones with scales often abruptly elongated above the middle and acute. 



