Description: Monoecious trees. Branches whorled.
Leaves linear, 4-angled, helically arranged but often twisted to form regular ranks; leaf bases decurrent and persistent as Mpegs..
Male cones axillary, cylindrical. Female cones terminal on short branches from uppermost lateral branches, pendulous, cylindrical, ripening and shedding seeds in first year but often remaining on the tree for s everal years afterwards.
Seeds with a large membranous wing.
Distribution and occurrence: About 50 species, all Northern Hemisphere continents, with about half in China.
Text by K.D. Hill
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Picea abies |
|
