Synonymie : Both
Ran et al. (2006) and Lockwood et al. (2013), in their molecular phylogenies of
Picea, concur in placing
P. obovata very near to
P. abies in a clade primarily composed of east Asian quadrangular-needled spruces. The close relationship to
P. abies has long been recognized, with some authorities reducing
P. obovata to the status of a subspecies. An intermediate form,
P. × fennica, represents an introgressive hybrid between the two species (Farjon 1990). This introgression is detailed by Krutovskii and Bergmann (1995), who analyzed isozyme loci for populations sampled from across the range of the two species. They found so little variation between the two taxa, and such a large zone of introgressive hybridization (covering both sides of the Ural Mountains) as to warrant describing them as "two geographical races of one spruce species." However, the molecular phylogenies indicate that
P. obovata is as distinct from
P. abies as other taxa in the clade such as
P. meyeri or
P. koyamae. A molecular clock proposed by Lockwood et al. (2013) suggests an early Pleistocene age for divergence of these species. (The Gymnosperm data base : https://www.conifers.org/pi/Picea_obovata.php)