Large numbers of ovulate cones resembling Picea Dietrich were recovered from the Lower Pliocene sediments of Unit One of Ch’ijee’s Bluff on the Porcupine River, Yukon Territory, Canada. Fourteen structurally preserved cones were sectioned using glycol methacrylate and bioplastic embedding techniques for anatomical study. Cones are cylindrical with a slightly tapering apex, 6.7 to 11.2 cm long, 1.9 to 2.8 cm in diameter. Pith and cortex are parenchymatous with scattered sclerenchyma in the middle and outer cortex. Bract and ovuliferous scale traces arise separately from the axis stele with a series of adaxial resin canals. The ovuliferous scale has a V-shaped trace at its origin while the bract trace is terete and accompanied by two resin canals. Five to six resin canals in the ovuliferous scale extend into the abaxial scale sclerenchyma. Bracts are keeled, 6.1-7.3 mm long, with a thin, tapered apex. Elongate, winged seeds are borne in pairs on the adaxial scale surface. Cones were compared anatomically to Picea breweriana S. Wats.,P. glauca (Moench.) Voss,P. engelmannii (Parry) Engelm., and the fossil taxa P. anadyrensis Krystofovich and P. banksii Hills and Ogilvie. The Yukon cones most closely resemble Picea glauca, but differ in the number of resin canals per scale, shape of the ovuliferous scale trace in transverse section, number of ovuliferous scales per cone, bract length, and amount of sclerenchyma in the cortex of the cone axis. These cones represent a new species of Picea that could easily be confused with P. glauca which occurs in east central Alaska based on anatomical evidence. Our results point out the importance of anatomical sectioning in the documentation conifers from the late Tertiary of the Yukon and Alaska where similar cones have been recovered.

Key words: conifer, Picea, Pinaceae, Pliocene, seed cones