Alberta Spruce - Picea Glauca

Alberta Spruce Distribution
Alberta Spruce is a medium-sized evergreen tree of the species Picea and is native to the north of North America, being widely distributed across central Alaska east to Newfoundland, and south to northern Montana, Michigan and Maine plus a remote population can be found in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. Its natural habitat is boreal forests (boreal: relating to the forest areas of the Northern Temperate Zone that are dominated by coniferous trees such as spruce, fir, and pine), coniferous and mixed coniferous-hardwood forests, growing well on loams, silt loams, and clays. Successful growth restricts sites to low water table, well-drained acidic mineral soils.

Alberta Spruce Alternative Names
Alberta Spruce known as Western White Spruce, Canadian Spruce, Alberta White Spruce, Black Hills Spruce, Skunk Spruce, Cat Spruce, Porsild Spruce, Picea Albertiana, Picea Canadensis, Picea Canadensis Glauca, and Pinus Glauca. White Spruce is the Provincial tree of Manitoba and the State tree of South Dakota.

Alberta Spruce Size and Description
Growing 49-100 feet /15-30m tall with exceptions reaching 131-feet /40m and a trunk long and straight with diameter to over 3-feet /1m. Branches are self-pruning and eventually leave the crown residing on the top half of the tree. Bark on mature trees is usually thin and flaky, scaly or smooth and is generally light grey-brown and sheds off in small circular plates 2.0-inches /5-10 cm across. The Alberta Spruce crown is narrow and conical in young trees, becoming cylindrical in older trees. The shoots are pale buff-brown, hairless in the east of the range, but often downy in the west, and with prominent cushion like swelling at the base of the stalk of a leaf or leaflet. Leaves are needle-like, 0.5-0.8-inch /12-20mm long, shaped like a rhombus in cross-section, pale greyish or bluish green above with several thin lines of stomata (minute pores in the epidermis of a leaf or stem through which gases and water vapor pass), and blue-white below with two broad bands of stomata.

Alberta Spruce Cones
The pendulous Alberta Spruce Cones are slender and cylindrical, 1.2-2.75 inches /3-7cm long and 0.6-inch /1.5cm across when closed, opening to 2.0-inches /2.5cm wide. They have thin, flexible scales 0.6-inch /15mm long, with a smoothly rounded exterior. They are green to reddish,  maturing light brown 4-6 months after pollination. Seeds are black, 0.08-0.12-inches /2-3 mm long, with a slender, light brown wing 0.2-0.31-inches /5-8 mm.

Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Dwarf Alberta Spruce, Picea Glauca Albertiana Conica, is exceedingly popular as a garden plant. Leaves are narrow and slender, as those normally found only on one-year-old Alberta Spruce seedlings. Growth is very slow being typically only 0.8-4.0- inches/ 2-10cm per year. Beware as older Dwarf Alberta Spruce specimens often revert to form, developing normal adult foliage and growing much faster. Remove unwanted growth to retain the much desired dwarf characteristics.

Alberta Spruce Wood Is Used For...
Canada harvests wood from the Alberta Spruce for papermaking and is of major economic significance. It is also proving very useful as an excellent Christmas tree!
The wood is reasonably light, straight even grained, hardwearing and is creamy white to straw color. The wood dries easily and holds its form well combining moderate, strength, and stiffness. These properties are commercially important for pulpwood and lumber used for construction. Other uses include specialty chests, cabinets, boxes, food containers, oars, paddles and sounding boards.

Alberta Spruce - Picea Glauca