White Spruce (Picea glauca)

Form

Reaches 60 to 80 feet in height; occasionally 100 feet with a diameter of 2 feet. The crown is a broad-based, open pyramid, the rigid branches curving upward. Except in dense forests, the crown extends well down the trunk.

Bark

Thin, separating into light, gray-brown scaly plates.

Leaf

Needles 4-sided and crowded along upper-half of branchlets; length 1/2 to 3/4 inches; dark bluish-green when mature; sharply pointed, having a slightly disagreeable odor when crushed.

Fruit

Slender cone, about 2 inches long; matures in one season; light brown when ripe; cones usually drop during winter after opening and shedding seeds. Seeds 1/8 to 1/6 inches long, pale brown, winged.

Range

Extensively found in forests of northern Wisconsin. Thrives on moist, well-drained soils and in swamps with balsam and tamarack; also found associated with mixed hardwoods.

Wood

Light, strong, soft, straight grained, yellow-white in color; used in the manufacture of various products, most important of which is paper. Largest trees are sawed into lumber and used for general construction: airplanes, furniture parts, canoe paddles and sounding boards for musical instruments; planted quite extensively for ornamental purposes, windbreaks, and shelterbelts; ranks high as a Christmas tree.

Notes

Spruce budworm is causing extensive damage to this species in the state.