Identification of the Red Spruce: Red Spruce trees have four-sided, short,yellowish green needles on woody pegs. The cones, which fall soon after maturity, are around 1.5 inches long. They hang pendantly and are reddish-brown and woody.
How can you tell a red spruce from a black spruce?
The red spruce's twigs take on an orange-brown ochre and its bark can tend toward a reddish hue, particularly beneath the scales; black spruce's branches and hairy twigs take on darker browns and sootier grays; skinny, waxy needles and the pale bloom of hairless twigs combine to give white spruce foliage a wispier, ...
How do you tell the difference between a white and red spruce?
White spruce cones are cylindrical and the scales can be easily broken apart. This distinguishes it from red and black spruce, which have globe or egg-shaped cones with stiff scales.
How do I identify my spruce?
Spruce and fir trees have their needles attached individually to the branches. To tell spruce and fir trees apart, it helps to know that spruce needles are sharply pointed, square and easy to roll between your fingers. Fir needles, on the other hand, are softer, flat and cannot be rolled between your fingers.
What color is red spruce?
The bark of Red Spruce trees is gray-brown to reddish brown. This species flowers in May. The pendant male flowers are bright red, while the female flowers are erect and bright green tinged with purple. In growth habit, this tree is rather open-branched, with up-curved tips.
Is red spruce the same as Adirondack?
Are red spruce and adirondack one and the same? Adirondack is now often used as an alternate name for red spruce, even if not harvested from the Adirondacks. If in doubt, using the term "red spruce" would always be correct because that is the name of the tree regardless of where it grew.
Where do red spruce trees grow?
Native Range The range of red spruce extends from the Maritime Provinces of Canada west to Maine, southern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario, and south into central New York, eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
What is the difference between an evergreen and a spruce tree?
This is an easy tip to remember: on pine trees, needles are attached and attached to the branches in clusters; on spruce trees, needles are attached individually. A longleaf pine – which you can tell is a pine because its needles are attached in bundles.
How can you tell the difference between a hemlock and a spruce?
Hemlock trees have needles uniquely attached to the stem. It is similar to the stalk-like woody projections of a spruce but much finer. Photo by Matt Suwak. Also, the needles of a hemlock are flattened.
How can you tell what kind of tree you have?
The starting point for most people when identifying trees species is the leaves. There are three basic leaf types: needles, scales and broadleaf. Most evergreens have needles or scales, while most broadleaf trees are deciduous, meaning they drop their leaves when dormant.
Why do spruce trees turn red?
Discoloration of evergreen needles is commonly caused by environmental conditions and not necessarily by insects or diseases. Depending on the severity of damage and type of evergreen, portions of the plant or the entire specimen can turn yellow, brown, red-brown or reddish-purple.
Is Red Spruce native?
Picea rubens, commonly known as red spruce, is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia, west to the Adirondack Mountains and south through New England along the Appalachians to western North Carolina.
Why do spruce needles turn red?
There are two fungi responsible for spruce needle rust: Chrysomyxa weirii and Chrysomyxa ledicola. While both of these fungi foster spruce needle rust symptoms in trees, they do so in slightly different ways. Most spruce species are susceptible to the disease but it is most prominent in white, black, and blue spruce.
How do I identify a white spruce tree?
Leaf: Evergreen needles, stiff, 1/3 to 3/4 inch long, square in cross section, needle tips are pointed but not sharp, when crushed a pungent odor is apparent (some say similar to cat urine), green to gray-green. ... Flower: Species is monoecious; males emerge reddish but turn yellow when shedding pollen; females purple.More items...
How can you tell a white spruce?
A large tree with a narrow crown, it can grow to 40 metres tall and 1 metre in diameter when mature. Needles are four-sided, sharp, and stiff, and are arranged spirally on the twigs; whitish-green and foul smelling when young, they become pleasant smelling with age.
What does a white spruce look like?
Features slightly curved, pale green needles that are roughly ½–¾" in length and crowded on the upper side of the stem. Yields slender, cylindrical cones that are light brown in color and 1½–2½" long with flexible scales. Grows in a pyramidal shape, becoming more columnar with age.
What does a white spruce Christmas tree look like?
Common Characteristics: long and have a blunt tip. They are bluish-green – green in color, but have a bad aroma when needles are crushed. They have excellent foliage color and have a good, natural shape.
How to tell if a spruce tree is red?
The easiest way to differentiate a red spruce tree from other spruces, is through its bark. The bark of the red spruce tree is gray-brown on the surface layer, and it peels off in thin, scaly pieces. Underneath the surface layer it revels inner bark that is more of a red-brown color.
What do Red Spruce Trees Look Like?
Spruce trees will most commonly grow shallow and laterally wide-spreading root systems. Though their root systems may develop differently depending on the growing location.
What Are Some Other Types of Spruce Tree?
They are the official provincial tree of Newfoundland and Labrador. They are a small species with upright branches and the smallest cones. They are commonly used for cultivars in parks and gardens.
What are the Growing Conditions of Red Spruce Trees?
The red spruce tree will grow best in soil that is extremely well-drained, and it prefers sandy loam soil types.
What are the Damaging Agents to the Red Spruce?
Spruce trees have a common enemy, and that is the spruce beetle. An invasive species that is most prevalent in cold regions, they have destroyed upwards of 2,300,000 acres of spruce forests in Alaska alone.
What is the name of the spruce tree that grows slowly?
Red spruce trees are also commonly referred to as the yellow spruce, the West Virginia spruce, the eastern spruce, or the he-balsam spruce. They are a late-successional coniferous tree that grows very slowly. Coniferous trees possess cones and needles instead of flowers and leaves, and the foliage does not drop seasonally, making them evergreen.
How long do red spruce needles stay on a tree?
They will remain on a tree anywhere between 3-6 years, where they will then fall off due to environmental changes.
What is the pest of a red spruce tree?
Spruce Budworm is a major pest of the tree. Despite its name, the Spruce Budworm prefers to feed on Balsam Fir. However, it can cause severe defoliation and death of Red Spruce, especially when found in stands with a high percentage of Balsam Fir. The insect is native to New England and eastern Canada with periodic outbreaks every few decades. There is currently a major outbreak in Canada that threatens to move south into northern New England in the coming years.
Where does red spruce grow?
Common examples are the thin soils of coastal Downeast Maine and higher elevations of mountains throughout western Maine, the White Mountains, and Green Mountains. It can also be found growing in poorly drained, lower elevation flats throughout northern New England.
What animals eat spruce fir?
Red Spruce and spruce-fir forest types are used by many iconic wildlife species of the north woods, including American Marten, Snowshoe Hare, and Canada Lynx. Dense, mature spruce-fir stands also provide critical winter habitat for White-tailed Deer in the northern extent of its range.
What is the red spruce used for?
The Red Spruce ( Picea rubens) is an important tree species in New England; together with Balsam Fir, it is the dominant tree used for lumber and pulp across much of Maine. There’s more to the species, however, than its growth pattern that makes for high-quality dimensional boards. One of the Red Spruce’s most interesting features is its wood’s unique resonance quality, which makes it highly valued for sounding boards in pianos, guitars, and other stringed instruments.
How is red spruce managed?
Red Spruce is managed throughout its range using a variety of techniques, from single-tree selection to clearcutting. Methods can vary depending on stand age, composition, density, and levels of regeneration. Harvested Red Spruce is valued for its lumber, given its light weight, strength, and straight grain. It is also pulped and used to make a variety of papers.
What is the name of the tree with yellow needles?
Red Spruce is a coniferous tree that retains its needles year-round. The shiny, yellow-green needles are four-sided with pointy tips as opposed to the flat, rounded needles of fir (spiny spruce, friendly fir). They grow individually all around the twig as opposed to pines, whose needles grow in groups of two to five. The bark of mature trees can be described as grayish-brown flakes covering a reddish-brown layer beneath. The bark’s appearance reminds some of burned corn flakes.
What color is red spruce?
Color/Appearance: Red Spruce is typically a creamy white, with a hint of yellow and/or red.
Is spruce a sensitizer?
Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Spruce in the Picea genus has been reported as a sensitizer. Usually most common reactions simply include skin irritation and/or respiratory disorders. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Does spruce have a odor?
A sanding sealer, gel stain, or toner is recommended when coloring Spruce. Odor: No characteristic odor.
Is spruce cheap?
Pricing/Availability: Construction grade spruce is cheap and easy to find. However, quartersawn clear pieces—free from knots—are much more expensive. Quartersawn billets of instrument-grade Red (Adirondack) Spruce can easily exceed the cost of most all domestic hardwoods in terms of per board-foot cost.
How to tell if a spruce tree is fir or pine?
Before trying to narrow down the species of spruce tree, first make sure that you are not looking at a fir or pine. Examining the needles of the trees is the easiest way to make the distinction between them. The needles of a spruce tree are attached individually to its branches, as opposed to being in clusters. They also have four sides and roll easily between your fingers.
What do spruce needles look like?
When the needles fall from the tree, these pegs are left behind, giving the branches a rough feel. The pegs look like little three-dimensional dots along the surface of the branch.
What is the difference between a spruce tree and a fir tree?
Look at the shape of the branches. Spruce trees are bushy and full, and have upturned branches. Fir trees, on the other hand, have downturned branches, making them easily distinguishable. Pine trees also have upturned branches but they have fewer branches which makes them look slightly sparser than spruce trees.
How long are the needles on a Colorado spruce tree?
The Colorado Spruce has blue or blue-silver needles that are quite sharp and are ¾ to 1 ½ inches long.
How long are Colorado spruce needles?
The Colorado Spruce has blue or blue-silver needles that are quite sharp and are ¾ to 1 ½ inches long.
How many species of spruce trees are there?
Spruce trees are robust evergreen trees that grow in cooler climates and are often used as Christmas trees during the holiday season. There are about 40 species of spruce trees worldwide, with several including the Colorado Spruce and the Norway Spruce being the most common.
What tree grows in clusters?
The needles of pine trees grow in clusters, which makes them immediately distinguishable from spruce trees.
Where is the Red Spruce native to?
Red Spruce ( Picea rubens) White Spruce ( Picea glauca) A conifer native to North America, with a northerly distribution; often found on richer sites than other spruces. Red Spruce ( Picea rubens) An evergreen tree of eastern North America ; the most southerly-distributed spruce of the east, found at high elevations in the south of its range.
What color are twigs?
Twigs hairy, especially on new growth; twigs usually more reddish in color.
Is a white spruce the same as a red spruce?
White and red spruce are usually relatively easy to distinguish by their foliage color and cones, but they can be confused because they have a similar shape. In the northeast, where red spruce can also be found at low elevations, both species often occur together in the same habitats.
How tall does a red spruce tree get?
Description. Red spruce is a evergreen, coniferous species of tree which, under optimal conditions, will grow to mature heights of 60 to 130 feet (18 – 40 m)' with a trunk diameter up to circa 24 inches (60 cm), measured at breast height.
What is a red spruce?
Picea rubens, as described in 1898 by Charles Sprague Sargent (1841–1927), in the 12th edition of The Silva of North America, is commonly known as red spruce, eastern spruce, or yellow spruce to English speakers; as well as épinette rouge in the French Canadian language. The species and common names refer to ...
What tree has scales on its trunk?
Picea rubens — scales on the trunk of red spruce tree. Photograph provided by Susan J. Meades
Where is Picea rubens native to?
Picea rubens in its native environment at Bear Rock West Virginia.
Where can I find red spruce?
Along with Fraser's fir ( Abies fraseri), red spruce is one of two primary tree types in the southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, a distinct ecosystem found only in the highest elevations ...
What color is bark?
Bark is colored gray-brown on the surface and red-brown on the inside. It is thin, and scaly.
How long are twig leaves?
Leaves are needle-like, colored yellow-green, measuring 0.48 to 0.6 inch (12 – 15 mm) long . They are four-sided and curved, with a sharp point, extending from all sides of the twig.
When do red spruce trees flower?
Flowering and Fruiting- Red spruce is monoecious; male and female flower buds open in May in axils of the previous year's shoots on different branches of the same tree. The pendant male flowers are bright red; female flowers are erect and bright green tinged with purple (21). Although cone buds differentiate as early as July preceding flowering in the following spring, they are difficult to distinguish until September. For experienced workers they provide a possible means of identifying seed years at that time. The cones mature from about mid-September to early October, the autumn following flowering (41). Cones are 3 to 4 cm (1.3 to 1.5 in) long, light reddish brown, with rigid, rounded scales often slightly toothed on the edges. Cones are receptive to pollen when fully open, a condition which lasts for only a few days.
Where does red spruce grow?
The range of red spruce extends from the Maritime Provinces of Canada west to Maine, southern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario, and south into central New York, eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and Massachusetts. It also grows south along the Appalachian Mountains in extreme western Maryland, and eastern West Virginia, ...
What type of soil does a red spruce plant live in?
The soils where red spruce and its associates grow are mostly acid Spodosols, Inceptisols, and sometimes Histosols with a thick mor humus and a well-defined A 2 horizon- characteristics commonly associated with abundant rainfall, cool climates, and softwood cover (11). Commonly, the pH of these soils ranges from 4.0 to 5.5. In northern New England, red spruce is found predominantly on shallow till soils that average about 46 cm (18 in) to a compact layer. It will grow on many sites unfavorable for other species, such as organic soils overlying rocks in mountainous locations, steep rocky slopes, thin soils, and wet bottomland (26). On poorly drained soils, lack of aeration limits growth (22).
How far away from timber edge do spruce trees grow?
Randall (37), in a study of seed dispersal into clearcut areas, stated that at a distance of 100 m (5 chains or 330 ft) from the timber edge, the number of spruce seeds trapped were more than adequate for regeneration in a good seed year and adequate in an average year. Most of the spruce in the surrounding stands was red spruce.
How often do red spruce cones produce seeds?
Seed Production and Dissemination- Good seed crops occur every 3 to 8 years, with light crops during intervening years (22). Red spruce cones number about 140/liter (5,000/bu), which yields 454 to 680 g (1.0 to 1.5 lb) of seeds. The number of cleaned seeds per kilogram ranges between 220,000 and 637,000 (100,000 and 289,000/lb), with an average of about 306,000 (139,000/lb) (41).
What is red spruce used for?
It is used for making paper, for construction lumber, and for musical stringed instruments. Its many uses rival those of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) (21).
What is spruce wood used for?
Chief uses are for lumber and pulpwood, with limited amounts going into poles piling, boatbuilding stock, and cooperage stock (36) Flakeboard and plywood have been made from spruce in recent years. It is also the preferred wood for piano sounding boards, guitars, mandolins, organ pipes, and violin bellies (21).
Age and Size
Identification
- Red Spruce is a coniferous tree that retains its needles year-round. The shiny, yellow-green needles are four-sided with pointy tips as opposed to the flat, rounded needles of fir (spiny spruce, friendly fir). They grow individually all around the twig as opposed to pines, whose needles grow in groups of two to five. The bark of mature trees can be...
Wildlife Habitat
- American Red Squirrels, voles, Spruce Grouse, and White-winged Crossbills rely on Red Spruce for a significant part of their diets. Red Spruce and spruce-fir forest types are used by many iconic wildlife species of the north woods, including American Marten, Snowshoe Hare, and Canada Lynx. Dense, mature spruce-fir stands also provide critical winter habitat for White-tailed Deer in …
Growing Conditions and Management
- Red Spruce grows in a variety of ecosystems but the common theme is relatively poor or thin soils where it can survive and out compete other tree species. Common examples are the thin soils of coastal Downeast Maine and higher elevations of mountains throughout western Maine, the White Mountains, and Green Mountains. It can also be found growing in poorly drained, lower elevatio…
Fun Fact
- Red Spruce provided the critical raw material to a booming spruce gum industry in Maine during the latter part of the 19th century. Sap that flowed from wounds in the trunk was collected after it had hardened. About 20 companies commercially sold spruce gum in Maine during that time period.