Picea 13^5 



occur in the mountains uniting the Thianshan range with the Pamirs ; and its 

 western limit is probably the Alexandrovoski mountains in Russian Turkestan. 

 Its eastern limit is not as yet clearly known ;^ but Przewalski found extensive woods 

 of it, not only in the Thianshan range, but also in the upper course of the Yellow 

 River in Mongolia, near Lake Kokonor, and in the adjoining Nan-Shan range.^ 



Mr. M. P. Price informs us that its most northerly point appears to be in the 

 Barluk mountains, lat. 46°, where there are a few scattered forests in the higher 

 valleys. He observed this tree at 9200 feet altitude in the pass between the valley 

 of the river Baratala and the plateau of Lake Sairam. It bears the greatest 

 extremes of heat and cold in these regions. Most of the trees, which he saw, 

 scarcely exceeded 50 to 70 ft. in height and 7 to 8 ft. in girth. On a section 

 2 ft. 10 in. in diameter from the base of a tree, which had grown in the vicinity of 

 Lake Issik Kul and was preserved in the museum at Vernoe, he counted 296 

 annual rings. The wood is used for building houses in Russian Turkestan ; but is 

 of little economic importance on account of the inaccessibility of the forests. 



In the eastern part of the Thianshan range, where the climate is very severe, and 

 the thermometer sinks at least 7° F. below freezing every night during summer, 

 P. Schrenkiana, nevertheless, forms open woods at about 8000 ft. elevation, which are 

 remarkable for the peculiar narrow columnar form of the trees. This is well shown 

 by two photographs, taken by Baron von Dungern, which are reproduced in Mitt. 

 Deut. Dend. Ges. 1910, pp. 227, 229. He explains the cypress-like habit as due 

 to the fact that the shoots of the lateral branches are almost invariably frozen, soon 

 after their production in early summer ; whilst those of the leading branches, which 

 are later in the season in emerging from the bud, escape destruction by the severe 

 frosts. 



This species was distributed by the St. Petersburg Botanic Garden after its 

 re-discovery in 1877 by Regel in Turkestan. It has never become common in 

 cultivation. There are two trees at Kew, 8 and 10 ft. high, obtained from Messrs, 

 Veitch in 1882; and smaller specimens at Bayfordbury and in other private 

 collections. It appears to be hardy, though slow in growth, and is very distinct 

 in appearance, most of the branches being rigid and ascending. (A. H.) 



' The spruce collected in Kansu, in north-western China, by Futterer and Holderer, identified with P. Schrenkiana by 

 Diels, Flora von Central-China^ i\'i (1901); and another, collected by Bretschneider, near Peking, similarly identified by 

 Masters, mjoum. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxvi. 554 (1902), appear to be identical with Picea Mastersii, Mayr, Fremdldnd. Wald- u. 

 Parkbdume, 328, figs. 105-107 (1906). 



2 Cf. Koppen, Hohgnodchse Europ. Russlands, ii. 538 {1889). Regel, in Act. Hort. Fetrop. vi. 485 (1880), states 

 that it grows not only in the high mountains, but also along the rivers Baratala, Kash, and Yuldus. 



