In 2016, during a field session in the Bystrzyca Kłodzka Forest Inspectorate, we were shown a unique specimen of common spruce, which foresters commonly called "palm spruce". Attention was drawn to the unusually shaped bark resembling a palm trunk. After showing the photos to the Director of the Dendrological Garden of the Faculty of Forestry of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań, the idea of collecting cuttings and attempting to propagate this specimen vegetatively was born. The initiative turned out to be even more worth taking as the spruce grew in a tree stand damaged by drought and the spruce bark beetle, and at the same time, infested by the small-pored rootworm and the honey fungus. On October 15, 2019, employees of the Department obtained material from the "palm spruce", as well as from another specimen with an extremely narrow crown indicated by employees of the forest district. We promised then that if we were able to multiply these spruces, we would hand over some of the seedlings to the Forestry Inspectorate. The cuttings were taken to the Sylwester Tomszak Ornamental Shrub Nursery in Czechowice-Dziedzice, where vaccination was carried out.
On July 24, 2023, the promise was fulfilled. After three years of breeding in the Dendrological Garden, the Director of the Garden, Dr. Eng. Tomasz Maliński and the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of the UPP Prof. dr hab. Piotr Łakomy handed over to Mr Jerzy Adamek, the Forest Inspectorate of the Bystrzyca Kłodzka Forest Inspectorate, accompanied by Mr Antoni Zieliński, several dozen seedlings of two types of spruces, which we tentatively named Picea abies "Palma" and Picea abies "Świeca". Our gift is all the more valuable: this year, the strong wind damaged the crown of the "palm spruce", and the bark beetles and honeysuckle finished the work. In the Dendrological Garden of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, we also planted several seedlings of these two potential varieties. We hope that they will repeat the characteristics of mother trees.
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