Brewer's Spruce

Brewer's Spruce

Brewer's Spruce ->>> https://shurll.com/2tCYo4

Picea breweriana, known as Brewer spruce,[2][3] Brewer's weeping spruce, or weeping spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America, where it is one of the rarest on the continent. The specific epithet breweriana is in honor of the American botanist William Henry Brewer.[4][5]

Needles:Attached to drooping twigs. You can identify this spruce by thesedistinctive long branchlets that can droop to a length of several feet.Brewer Spruce needles are not as thick and not as sharp as other nativenative spruces. They spread from all sides of the twig like otherspruces. Young trees don't show drooping twigs for 10-20 years.

Cones:The cones are generally larger than the cones on Sitka spruceand Engelmann spruce. And unlike the cones ofthese spruces, Brewer spruce cones have scales with roundsmooth edges. They look more like mountain hemlock cones but are about twice the length.

Known for its drooping branches, the Picea breweriana or weeping spruce is a rare conifer native to California and Oregon. Our version features long, pendulous branches and narrow, tapered forked tips to mimic the lacey texture of the real Brewer spruce.

Description. Brewer's spruce is an evergreen coniferous species of tree that grows to mature heights of 125 feet (40 m) with a typically buttressed trunk up to 60 inches (150 cm) diameter, measured at breast height; and a conic crown.

P. breweriana is sympatric with Picea engelmannii at one location, on the slopes of Russian Peak (Sawyer and Thornburgh, 1969, 1970, cited by Ledig et al. 2005). It does not occur particularly close to Picea sitchensis; at their closest approach, populations are separated by 18.5 km and several hundred meters of elevation (Waring et al. 1975, cited by Ledig et al. 2005). No hybrids with either P. engelmannii or P. sitchensis have been observed in habitat (Sawyer and Thornburgh 1969, cited by Ledig et al. 2005), and repeated attempts at controlled pollination have failed to produce hybrids between P. breweriana and other spruces (Gordon 1986, cited by Ledig et al. 2005). Phylogenies based on molecular markers suggest that P. breweriana may stand alone in the genus with no close relatives (sources in Ledig et al. 2005).

P. breweriana grows with at least 15 other conifers (Waring et al. 1975), two of the most common being Pseudotsuga menziesii and Abies magnifica var. shastensis (in fact, the Klamath Mountains may contain the highest naturally-occurring conifer diversity that can be found within a small area, such as a square kilometer, anywhere on earth). Some of the associated conifers attain greater height and older ages, so Brewer spruce is often found in the subcanopy (Ledig et al. 2005). P. breweriana is also susceptible to fire, so it often occurs in relatively open stands on rocky and infertile soils, which are less prone to hot fires (Thornburgh 1990, cited by Ledig et al. 2005).

I have seen it at several locations in the Klamath Mountains, on the Oregon-California line, where it can be most easily found growing along the paved road from Happy Camp, CA to Cave Junction, OR. The best stand I saw was about 5 km south of the California-Oregon border. It is illustrated by photos here, taken on 2009.07.03. This appears to be part of the Indian Creek Brewer Spruce Special Interest Area in Klamath National Forest, California. This is rated one of the best existing stands of this species. The location is at 41 59' N, 123 31' W. In this stand, Brewer spruce grows with codominant white fir (chiefly the Abies grandis-Abies concolor hybrid, \"Abies grandicolor\") and secondary noble fir (Abies procera), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), and incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) (Keeler-Wolf 1990, and my observations).

A photograph at right shows a bud infected with the western spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis), one of the most important forest insect pests in western North America. Larvae of this insect eat the foliar buds of many conifer species (including native species of Picea, Pseudotsuga, and most Abies) and are thus an agent of defoliation. For a detailed description of this pest, click HERE (Fellin and Dewey 1982).

Gordon, A.G. 1986. Breeding, genetics and genecological studies in spruce for tree improvement in 1983 and 1984, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Pp. 112-116 in C.W. Yeatman and T.J.B. Boyle (eds.), Proceedings of the Twentieth Meeting of the Canadian Tree Improvement Association, part 1. Quebec City, Quebec.

Kaufmann, Michael. 2010. Field Notes from Plant Explorations: Canyon Creek Brewer Spruce Trinity Alps Wilderness. -creek-brewer-spruce--trinity-alps-wilderness.aspx, accessed 2011.03.09, now defunct.

Ledig, F. T., P. D. Hodgskiss, and D. R. Johnson. 2005. Genic diversity, genetic structure, and mating system of Brewer spruce (Pinaceae), a relict of the Arcto-Tertiary forest. American Journal of Botany 92:1975-1986. Available: American Journal of Botany, accessed 2007.05.19.

\"Brewer spruce is a California native, endemic conifer. It has a distinctive, drooping appearance caused by the presence of thousands of long, ropelike branches hanging from all but the topmost horizontal limbs. At maturity, Brewer spruces usually reaches 80 to 100 feet (24-30 m) in height, but can reach up to 172 feet (52 m) in height. Diameters range from approximately 3.8 feet (117 cm) to up to 4.5 feet (1.35 m) in some areas. The bark is thin and broken into long, thin, appressed scales. The leaves are obtuse, flat on top, and rounded underneath, and spread from all sides of the branchlets. The male cones are stalked and oblong (3 to 4 inches [7-10 cm] long). The seeds are 0.12 inch (3 mm) long. The root system generally is shallow; however, on deeper soils, a few vertical roots may extend several meters. Brewer spruce can live as long as 900 years.

Brewer spruce is endemic to the Klamath region of northwestern California and adjacent Oregon. It is distributed from from Del Norte, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties in California to Curry and Josephine counties in Oregon. The best developed stands are located on high ridges and upper valleys of the Klamath, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers National Forests of California and in the Siskiyou and Rogue River National Forests of Oregon. Despite its restricted distribution, Brewer spruce has a broad ecological amplitude. Its apparent limitations are high water tables and frequent fires. Brewer spruce is quite tolerant of soil moisture stress, cold temperatures, low light, low-fertility soils, and snow. Although Brewer spruce can tolerate considerable soil moisture stress, it is sensitive to high evaporation demands. Under such demand, stomata close, halting photosynthesis.

Brewer spruce grows in a climate of cold, wet winters and warm, relatively dry summers with respective temperature ranges of 30 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 to 5 deg C) and 52 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (11-20 deg C). Annual precipitation varies between 39 and 110 inches (1,000-2,800 mm. Brewer spruce stands occur on north-, south-, east-, and west-facing slopes, but the preferred habitat is steep, north-facing slopes. Brewer spruce occurs on rocky ridges, cold hollows, and on dry talus and moraines. It never occurs in areas where the soils are saturated during the growing season, such as boggy or wet areas. The slope is generally 11 to 70 percent.

Brewer spruce grows on soils developed from sedimentary, granitic, serpentine, and metavolcanic rock. Most soils are shallow, rocky, and undeveloped; however, Brewer spruce does occur on deeper soils. Soil pH ranges between 4.6 and 7.2 on mica schist, meta volcanic, granitic, and ultrabasic soils. Soil depth varies between 12 and 50 inches (6.5-127 cm). Kruckeberg lists Brewer spruce as an indicator of serpentine soils. Heavy metals, especially iron and nickel, can attain high levels in soil and plant tissues of Brewer spruce.\"

Picea breweriana, commonly called Brewer's spruce, is upright pyramidal evergreen tree when young, but develops pendulous branching and a weeping appearance with age. It is native to moist forested slopes and ridges from 3,000' to 7,000' in elevation in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountain region in northwest California and adjacent southwest Oregon. It was first collected in 1863 near the western base of Mt. Shasta by William Henry Brewer (1828-1910), professor of agriculture at Yale University. In cultivation, this tree will typically mature to 30-50' tall and to 10-12' wide, but rises to as much as 75-120' tall in its native habitat. Trunk is typically buttressed and crown is conic. As the tree ages, branchlets (4-8' long) droop straight down to form hanging curtains of foliage. Glossy dark green needles (to 1-1.5\" long) are gray-green beneath. Needles (flattened or triangular in cross section) are borne on woody pegs and radiate around the stems. Seed cones (3-6\" long) mature to red-brown.Genus name is reportedly derived from the Latin word pix meaning pitch in reference to the sticky resin typically found in spruce bark.Specific epithet honors William Henry Brewer (1828-1910), American botanist and professor of agriculture at Yale and botanical explorer in California.

No serious insect or disease problems. Climate in its native range is cool and wet in winter but warm and relatively dry in summer. In cultivation, it is difficult to establish this tree in areas of the U.S. that vary from the climate of its native range. Susceptible to wood rot, brown rot and spruce budworm.

Brewer Spruce Research Natural Area (RNA) was established to represent high-elevation, mixed conifer communities including dense stands of Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana) and associated brushfields. The RNA lies on a small mountain peak and the crest of a downward-trending ridge. The topography is very rugged with steep slopes and rock outcrops, primarily on north aspects. The RNA includes a small, shallow cirque pond and saddles at the west and east ends. Douglas-fir (Pseudo