Serbian spruce (Picea omorika)
Appearance: An evergreen coniferous tree, with a very narrow crown, conical or even slender, columnar, usually lower than Norway spruce, with a height of up to 30 meters. The branches are densely overgrown with the slender trunk, usually sticking out horizontally and only slightly hanging down in the lower part, and slightly raised ends. The top of the crown is very narrow and stretched upwards.
Brown-orange bark, reddish or reddish. divided into thin, fine scales, in older specimens it breaks up into larger lobes, Usually light shoot, ocher, slightly hairy.
Long pins 1-2 cm, weakly sharpened either (especially on older trees) blunt, pliable, slightly flattened, on top of a bright green tube bluish green, and under the bottom – with a keel and two wider ones, bright, longitudinal stripes. They clearly stand out from the axis of the twigs (at least in the middle), bent more strongly in the anterior segment, curved at the top.
Male flowers carmine-red before dusting.
Initially, Żert cones are bright red, later bluish-purple-greenish, at last, after maturing, dark brown, narrow, spindle-shaped, about the length 6-8 centimeters. The scales of cones with an irregular pattern on the edge usually fit tightly. Habitat: Mountain forests on shallow soils, relatively dry and warm in summer; to a height of approx 1800 m n.p.m, Occurrence: Serbian spruce grows wild only in a small area in the middle reaches of Drina near Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was discovered there only around 1890 year. Since then, this species with low climatic and soil requirements is often planted in gardens and parks as an ornamental tree, and because of the precious wood also cultivated in forests.
Flowering period: April to May.
General thoughts: Among all the species studied so far, Serbian spruce is considered to be one of the forms most resistant to industrial pollution, especially for acid rain, which cause him less damage than the native spruce in Central Europe (by. previous genre). Not yet investigated, what are the causes of these differences in the tolerance of harmful substances. You can suppose, that it is about subtle differences in the coverage of the pins with wax. The thicker the wax layer, the less harmful substances penetrate the pins and cause metabolic disorders there.
Considering the research results, it is doubtful whether such metabolic disturbances are the only cause of modern forest extinction.. It is probably a whole complex of closely related factors and processes.