Norway Spruce Picea abies. Near Bansko, Pirin Mountains, Bulgaria (41° 48' 10" N 23° 28' 20" W; 1130m altitude). September 2001. An exceptionally fine "comb spruce", with pendulous branchlets. Given that pendulous branchlets are commonly cited as an adaptation to shedding winter snow, it is perhaps somewhat surprising that the most markedly pendulous specimens in the Pirin Mountains were at or close to the lower altitudinal limit of Norway Spruce growth; specimens at higher altitude (up to 1800m, with much heavier snowfall) had much less pendulous branchlets ("brush spruce").
