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. omorika – Serbian Spruce – This fast growing, pyramidal tree with pendent branches upturned at the tips is form Bosnia and Serbia grows 70-100′ feet tall and 6-10′ feet wide. It has brown bark cracking into square plates, and orange-brown shoots with black hairs. It produces flattened, square tipped dark to blue green leaves, ½-3/4″ long, grayish beneath, lie flat at the sides of the shoots and are spreading below. It bears ovate-oblong, purplish later brown female cones, 1 1/4-3″ long. Tolerates alkaline soil and is more tolerant to urban pollution then most.
Zones 4-8
