Spruce facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Spruces
Norway Spruce (Picea abies)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Pinaceae
Genus:	Picea Link

Spruce are trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and taiga regions of the earth.

Spruces are large trees, from 20–60 (–95) m tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their conical form and their needles, that are attached singly to the branches in a spiral fashion. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old.

Classification

• Picea abies Norway Spruce. Europe; important in forestry. The original Christmas tree.
• Picea asperata Dragon Spruce. Western China; several varieties.
• Picea meyeri Meyer's Spruce. Northern China.
• Picea koraiensis Korean Spruce. Korea, northeast China.
• Picea koyamae Koyama's Spruce. Japan (mountains).

Species

Thirty-five named species of spruce exist in the world. The Plant List has 59 accepted spruce names.

Basal species:

Clade	Description	Image	Cone	Name	Common Name	Distribution
Clade I	Northern and western North America, in boreal forests or high mountains			Picea breweriana	Brewer's spruce	Klamath Mountains, North America; local endemic
				Picea sitchensis	Sitka spruce	Pacific coast of North America; the largest species, to 95 m tall; important in forestry
				Picea engelmannii	Engelmann spruce	western North American mountains; important in forestry
				Picea glauca	white spruce	northern North America; important in forestry
Clade II	Throughout Asia, mostly in mountainous areas, a few isolated populations in higher elevations of Mexico			Picea brachytyla	Sargent's spruce	southwest China
				Picea chihuahuana	Chihuahua spruce	northwest Mexico (rare)
				Picea farreri	Burmese spruce	northeast Burma, southwest China (mountains)
				Picea likiangensis	Likiang spruce	southwest China
				Picea martinezii	Martinez spruce	northeast Mexico (very rare, endangered)
				Picea maximowiczii	Maximowicz spruce	Japan (rare, mountains)
				Picea morrisonicola	Taiwan spruce	Taiwan (high mountains)
				Picea neoveitchii	Veitch's spruce	northwest China (rare, endangered)
				Picea orientalis	Caucasian spruce or Oriental spruce	Caucasus, northeast Turkey
				Picea purpurea	purple cone spruce	western China
				Picea schrenkiana	Schrenk's spruce	mountains of central Asia
				Picea smithiana	morinda spruce	western Himalaya, eastern Afghanistan, northern and northwest India
				Picea spinulosa	Sikkim spruce	northeast India (Sikkim), eastern Himalaya
				Picea torano	tiger-tail spruce	Japan
				Picea wilsonii	Wilson's spruce	western China
Clade III	Europe, Asia, and North America, mostly in boreal forests or mountainous areas			Picea abies	Norway spruce	Europe; important in forestry, the original Christmas tree
				Picea alcoquiana – ("P. bicolor")	Alcock's spruce	central Japan (mountains)
				Picea asperata	dragon spruce	western China; several varieties
				Picea crassifolia	Qinghai spruce	China
				Picea glehnii	Glehn's spruce	northern Japan, Sakhalin
				Picea jezoensis	Jezo spruce	northeast Asia, Kamchatka south to Japan
				Picea koraiensis	Korean spruce	Korea, northeast China
				Picea koyamae	Koyama's spruce	Japan (mountains)
				Picea mariana	black spruce	northern North America
				Picea meyeri	Meyer's spruce	northern China (from Inner Mongolia to Gansu)
				Picea obovata	Siberian spruce	north Scandinavia, Siberia; often treated as a variant of P. abies (and hybridises with it), but has distinct cones)
				Picea omorika	Serbian spruce	Serbia and Bosnia; local endemic; important in horticulture
				Picea pungens	blue spruce or Colorado spruce	Rocky Mountains, North America; important in horticulture
				Picea retroflexa	green dragon spruce	China
				Picea rubens	red spruce	northeastern North America; important in forestry, known as Adirondack in musical-instrument making

Uses

Timber

P. abies wood

Spruce is useful as a building wood, commonly referred to by several different names including North American timber, SPF (spruce, pine, fir) and whitewood (the collective name for spruce wood). Spruce wood is used for many purposes, ranging from general construction work and crates to highly specialised uses in wooden aircraft. The Wright brothers' first aircraft, the Flyer, was built of spruce.

Because this species has no insect or decay resistance qualities after logging, it is generally recommended for construction purposes as indoor use only (indoor drywall framing, for example). Spruce wood, when left outside cannot be expected to last more than 12–18 months depending on the type of climate it is exposed to.

Pulpwood

Spruce is one of the most important woods for paper uses, as it has long wood fibres which bind together to make strong paper. The fibres are thin walled and collapse to thin bands upon drying. Spruces are commonly used in mechanical pulping as they are easily bleached. Together with northern pines, northern spruces are commonly used to make NBSK. Spruces are cultivated over vast areas as pulpwood.

Food and medicine

Spruce (Picea mariana) essential oil in a clear glass vial

The fresh shoots of many spruces are a natural source of vitamin C. Captain Cook made alcoholic sugar-based spruce beer during his sea voyages in order to prevent scurvy in his crew. The leaves and branches, or the essential oils, can be used to brew spruce beer.

The tips from the needles can be used to make spruce tip syrup . In survival situations spruce needles can be directly ingested or boiled into a tea. This replaces large amounts of vitamin C. Also, water is stored in a spruce's needles, providing an alternative means of hydration . Spruce can be used as a preventive measure for scurvy in an environment where meat is the only prominent food source .

Tonewood

Spruce is the standard material used in soundboards for many musical instruments, including guitars, mandolins, cellos, violins, and the soundboard at the heart of a piano and the harp. Wood used for this purpose is referred to as tonewood.

Spruce, along with cedar, is often used for the soundboard/top of an acoustic guitar. The main types of spruce used for this purpose are Sitka, Engelmann, Adirondack and European spruces.

Other uses

The resin was used in the manufacture of pitch in the past (before the use of petrochemicals); the scientific name Picea derives from Latin picea "pitch pine" (referring to Scots pine), from piceus, an adjective from pix "pitch".

Native Americans in North America use the thin, pliable roots of some species for weaving baskets and for sewing together pieces of birch bark for canoes. See also Kiidk'yaas for an unusual golden Sitka Spruce sacred to the Haida people.

Spruces are popular ornamental trees in horticulture, admired for their evergreen, symmetrical narrow-conic growth habit. For the same reason, some (particularly Picea abies and P. omorika) are also extensively used as Christmas trees, with artificial Christmas trees often being produced in their likenesses.

Spruce branches are also used at Aintree racecourse, Liverpool, to build several of the fences on the Grand National course. It is also used to make sculptures.

Images for kids

• 

  The peg-like base of the needles, or pulvinus, in Norway spruce (Picea abies).

• 

  Pulvini remain after the needles fall (white spruce, Picea glauca).

• 

  Manually decorticated trunk of a spruce as protection against bark beetles

• 

  The picture shows the structure of spruce tree cells

• 

  Spruce in the park of Peterhof

See also

In Spanish: Pícea para niños