Picea omorika, commonly known as the Pančić spruce or the Serbian spruce, is a species of
coniferous tree endemic to the valley of the
Drina in western Serbia, and eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a total range of only about 60 hectares (150 acres) at altitudes of 800 to 1,600 metres (2,625 to 5,249 ft). The species was originally discovered near the Serbian village of
Zaovine on
Mount Tara in 1875, and named by the Serbian botanist
Josif Pančić. It is a medium-sized
evergreen tree that generally grows to a height of around 20 metres (66 ft), with a trunk diameter of up to 1 metre (3 ft). It has buff-brown shoots with dense hair coverage and needle-like leaves. Its
cones are fusiform in shape and grow to a length of 4 to 7 centimetres (2 to 3 in). They are dark purple when young, maturing to dark brown, and have stiff scales. This young female
P. omorika cone, with a length of 22 millimetres (0.87 in), was photographed near
Keila, Estonia.
Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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