Description
Picea – Spruce –
There are 30-45 species of monoecious, evergreen, coniferous trees in the Pinaceae family, in this genus. They are stiff, narrow, conical, sometimes columnar trees. They occur in forest in cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They have horizontal to upward pointing branches covered in needle like leaves set singly around the shoots, and varies from bright green, glaucous, blue, silver and gray. The woody, oval to oblong-cylindrical female cones, held terminal on main shoots and side shoots, are erect at flowering, later pendent, they ripen in a season from green or red when young to purple or brown when mature. Ovoid, yellow to red purple male cones, 3/4-1 1/4″ long, are borne in spring on previous years shoots. Spruces are useful for shelter planting or as specimen trees, many cultivars are dwarf or slow growing. There are prostrate cultivars that make excellent ground covers.
Grow in any deep, moist but well drained, ideally neutral to acidic soil in full sun. It will not withstand polluted environments.
Prone to gall insects, aphids, caterpillars, sawfly, red spider mites, lesion nematode, scale insects, butt rot, heart rot, witches broom, mistletoe, rust, gall adelgids, and needle cast
P. sitchensis – Sitka Spruce – Alaska Spruce – This fast growing narrowly conical to pyramidal tree from Coastal Western North America from Alaska to California grows 80-160′ feet tall and 20-40′ feet wide. It has wide spreading branches when old, purple-brown bark becoming gray, and white shoots. Produces sharp pointed, flattened, dark green leaves, silvery beneath, 3/4-1″ long, that overlap above the shoots, and spread below. It bears cylindrical, green, later pale brown female cones that are 2-4″ long. Favored X-mas tree.
Zones 7-8
