Densely branched, conical tree to 20 m or so tall in cultivation. Buds 3-4 mm long, conical, pointed, red-brown, not resinous. Young shoots yellowish to pale brown, shortly hairy. Leaves 6-8 mm long, flexible, more or less blunt, deep shining green above, pointing forwards on upper surface of shoot, parted below. Female cones mostly 6-10 cm long, purple-grey when young, pale brown when mature, narrowly ovoid to cylindrical; scales rounded, toothless. Seed about 5 mm long with wing about 1-1.5 cm long.
Widely cultivated and, like P. abies, often used as a Christmas tree.
Turkey & Caucasus.
Shoots pale brown, hairy; buds not resinous; leaves very short, dark green, often blunt and extremely shiny.
VIC: Dandenongs ('Pirianda'); Stanley (cemetery); Mt Macedon ('Alton'; Cameron Lodge'). TAS: Launceston (Cataract Gorge).
Source: (1995). Pinaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Young shoots golden yellow. Raised p. Smith, Bergedorf near Hamburg, Germany, nineteenth century.
Young growth rich creamy yellow changing to dark green in late summer. Introduced Vermeulen Nsy, USA c. 1979.
Slow growing, narrow columnar habit with small rich green leaves. Listed for USA 1961.
Short rounded to conical bush; branches intermingling; foliage grass-green. Grows about 1 m in 10 years. A. Kort, Kalmthout, Belgium c. 1903.
Dwarf, round, dense with short branches, buds congested, leaves widely spaced. Origin unknown as several variants are known under this name; distinctive ones should be re-named and the name treated as a group name.
Broadly conical, branches irregular, tips drooping. Raised Niemetz, Hungary; intd Herm a Hesse, Weenerom Ems, Germany.
A name of uncertain origin and application given to a range of clones with weeping branches, best treated as a group name.
Picea orientalis 'Raraflora Fluke'
America, listed by Raraflora Nsy, Feasterville, Pennsylvania as 'Raraflora' in 1966.