White spruce
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated March 2018.
Scientific name: Picea glauca (Moench) Voss
Common name(s): white spruce, skunk spruce, cat spruce, Canadian spruce
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- in recently cleared blueberry field
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- hairless twig distinguishes it from red spruce
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- new growth
Description:
-evergreen needles
- 1/3 to 3/4 inches long
- cross section is square
- tips are pointed but not sharp
- green-gray/green
- needles often have a pungent smell that some liken to cat or skunk spray
-monecious
- males flowers emerge reddish
- females flowers emerge purple
-cones are 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 inches long
-slender light brown twigs, rounded scales
-bark is thin, gray/brown
- smooth when younger
- flaky and scaly when older
-can reach 90 feet tall
– may be confused with red spruce (P. rubens), which also occurs in wild blueberry fields but has small hairs on the branchlets; see left sidebar on Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-forests
-woodlands
Sources:
Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation. “Virginia Tech Dendrology.” Virginia Tech Dendrology Fact Sheet, 2021, dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=103.