Conifer Database - Compacta

Conifer Trees Database

Welcome to the American Conifer Society Database

Established in 1983, our mission is centered on advocating for the integration of conifer trees in garden designs and landscapes. We are dedicated to educating enthusiasts and the general public about the proper care, cultivation, and conservation of these majestic and diverse evergreens.

    
Picea abies ‘Compacta’

Picea abies

Picea abies 'Compacta' is used as a collective term to describe the myriad globose- to broadly conical forms of Norway spruce with dense branching and short needles that exist in the international nursery trade. Such plants have been well-known and popular throughout history and no individual clone can be identified as the origin of them all. At some point taxonomists will formally assign these trees under a 'œform-status,' i.e. Picea abies forma compacta. However this has not yet happened.

Humphrey Welch and Gordon Haddow correctly state in The World Checklist of Conifers that, "according to the literature the name 'compacta' is loosely used in the trade for several compact clones."

In 1864, Carl Edward Adolph Petzold and Georg Kirchner formally described this cultivar in their book, Arboretum Muscaviense They claim that 'Compacta' originated a seedling selected by James Godfrey Booth of Booth & Son Nursery, Hamburg, Germany. Given the number of widely varying clones currently available, it's quite likely that Booth's is no longer distinguishable.




Picea abies

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HORTICULTURAL STATUS:Established / Published
COLOR:Medium Green
GROWTH SHAPE:Globe or Globose
GROWTH SIZE:Dwarf: 1 to 6 inches (2.5 – 15 cm) per year / 1 to 5 feet (0.3 – 1.5 m) after 10 years
ORIGIN:Seedling Selection


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