Nature Protection
Title:: Nature Protection
Date of Issue: 19.09.2025.
Author: Danijela Popovic
Type edition: commemorative
Printing techniques: multicolour offset
Sheet: block
Paper: muflep 100g
Printing House: Blicdruk, Sarajevo
Motive: Pancic spruce
Catalogue no: 1009 and 1010
Perforation: 13 3/4
Face value: 2 x 3.60 BAM
Quantity: 8 000
Pancic's Spruce is an endemic and relict tree species that inhabits the area around the middle course of the Drina River, in the territories of Republic of Srpska and Serbia. A population is also known to exist in the canyon of the Milesevka River (Serbia). Tens of millions of years ago, Pancic's spruce was much more widely distributed, but it survived the Ice Age only in the area where it is still found today. Because of this, it is often referred to as a “living fossil.”
Today, the spruce grows on inaccessible, steep slopes and cliffs at elevations ranging from 400 to 1800 meters above sea level. The tree has a narrow, pyramidal, and exceptionally slender crown with thin branches. The needles are shiny and dark green on the upper side, while the underside has two white stripes with stomata. The cones are pendulous, shiny, and reddish-brown in color.
The species was discovered in 1875 by Josif Pancic, one of the most prominent botanists of his time, as a new species for science. This discovery attracted great attention 150 years ago and is still considered one of the most significant botanical discoveries in 19th-century Europe. The most recent research shows that Pancic’s spruce grows at 26 sites in Republic of Srpska. Several localities with individual spruce trees are also known, while at 11 previously described sites its presence has not been confirmed.
Since 1964, Pancic's spruce has been listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Republic of Srpska, it is a strictly protected plant species and, as of this year, has been declared a species of national importance.
Author: Danijela Popovic
Publisher: Poste Srpske a.d. Banjaluka
Cooperation: Republic Institute for the protection of the cultural, historical and natural heritage of the Republic of Srpska