White Spruce (Picea glauca)

White Spruce is a variety of spruce tree that hails from the northern temperate region and boreal forests in North America. This tree variety is a climax covering tree in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada. The White Spruce tree has an average growth rate that grows well in full sun. Usually, this tree grows well on well-drained soils in riparian and alluvial zones, even though it also performs well in glacial and lacustrine origin. At the adulthood, the White Spruce tree attains the columnar, pyramidal shape with its widespread branches.

Features

White Spruce is a straight, elevated tree that grows to a maximum height ranging from 40 feet to 60 feet with elongated branches that spread between 10 feet and 20 feet. The trunk of the tree has a maximum diameter of 3.3 feet, with a skinny and scaly bark, peeling off in small rounded plates 5 cm to 10 cm across. Young trees appear with a narrow-conic top, whereas the matured ones have a cylindrical top. The hairless shoots of the tree are pale buff-brown in color.

The leaves of the White Spruce tree appear with two different colors with dark blue-green color above, with numerous thin stomata lines and blue-white color below, with two wider stomata bands. These leaves attain the shape of a needle, with the length ranging from 12 mm to 20 mm, with rhombic cross-section.

The cones of the White Spruce tree are pendulous, slim, cylindrical in shape, with the length ranging from 1.2 inches to 2.8 inches and a breadth of 0.59 inches when closed, and a breadth of 0.98 inches when opened. They boast slim, flexible scales, with the length of 0.59 inches, and a smoothly round border. They are reddish or green in color, and they will change their color to pale brown when matured after 8 months of pollination. The seeds of the cones are black in color, with the length that ranges from 2 mm to 3 mm, with a lean, pale brown colored wing, with the length ranging from 5 mm to 8 mm.

Uses

The wood of the White Spruce tree is used in the manufacturing of paper.

The White Spruce tree can survive up to 200 years.