34 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



No. 1896, seed No. 1282); without locality, A. Henry (No. 6908). 

 Eastern Szech'uan: Wushan Hsien, A. Henry (Nos. 7074% 7157); 

 Cheng-kou Ting, P. Farges (No. 806, type). 



Formerly this handsome, flat-leaved Spruce was very common in north-western 

 Hupeh between altitudes of 1600 and 2500 m., but it has been felled for lumber and 

 is now quite rare. It forms a medium-sized, open branched tree from 10 to 25 m. 

 tall, the principal branches are relatively long, horizontally spreading, but ascend- 

 ing at the extremities; the branchlets are pendulous. The bark is grey-brown, 

 becoming dark grey with age, rough and deeply fissured into thick, irregularly ob- 

 long plates. The pale dull brown colored cones are retained rarely a year after the 

 seeds are ripe. The species with which Masters confused this Spruce have 

 differently shaped cones with much thinner scales and do not occur in central or 

 western China. The specimen from Yunnan {Delavay No. 4129), referred by 

 Franchet to this species, probably belongs to P. complanata Masters. 



A picture of this tree will be found under Nos. 608, 609, 701 of the collection of 

 Wilson's photographs and also in hi^ Vegetation of Western China, Nos. 338, 351. 



Picea ascendens Patschke in Bot. Jahrb. XLVIII. 632 (1913). 



Western Szech'uan: in temple grounds, city, of Wen-chuan 

 Hsien, alt. 1300 m.. May 1908 (No. 2073; tree 13 m. tall, girth 2 m.); 

 same locality, and from same tree as the preceding number, August 

 21, 1903 (Veitch Exped. No. 3024,^ type) ; Pan-lan-shan, west of Kuan 

 Hsien, forests, alt. 2700-3200, June 1908 (Nos. 2071, 2072; trees 12- 

 26 m. tall, girth 1.20-4 m.); same locality, alt. 2500-3200 m., October 

 1910 (No. 4048=^; tree 18-25 m. tall); west and near Wen-ch'uan 

 Hsien, alt. 2500 m., October 1910 (No. 4050; tree 18-23 m. tall); 

 Tu-ti-Hang-shan, forests, alt. 2500-3000 m., October 1910 (No. 4050; 

 tree 10-30 m. tall, girth 1-3.25 m; colloquially "Me-tiao-sha")- 



Picea ascendens is closely related to P . brachytyla Fritzel, but differs in its more 

 slender, sometimes hairy branchlets with less prominent pulvini, in its narrower 

 and longer leaves, and in the more slender cones with appressed scales slightly un- 

 dulate at the apex; from P. complanata Masters it is easily distinguished by its 

 rhombic cone-scales, truncate and usually emarginate at the apex. 



In P. ascendens, the cone-scales are rhombic, rather pointed and erose. The 

 degree of pubescence on the shoots varies considerably in the material before us, 

 some of the specimens being almost glabrous, while others are densely setose. 

 This character is very inconstant but the stronger shoots are invariably the less 

 hairy. The ovoid, chestnut-brown winter-buds are very numerous and promi- 

 nent in this species, as they are in P. complanata Masters. 



Picea ascendens is abundant on the mountains in the west of the Lungan pre- 

 fecture, and is the only member of the Omorika group found in that region. The 

 tree is pyramidal in habit with a mast-like trunk, horizontally-spreading branches 

 upturned at the ends, and clothed with long, whip-like, lateral pendant branchlets 

 which give it a distinct appearance. The wood is close-grained, almost white and 



1 Patschke quotes No. 3034 (Herb. Kew) as the type of hie species, but in the 

 Arnold Arboretum Herbarium the number reads 3024. 



