WHITE SPRUCE
picea glauca

• The White Spruce is a large tree with a narrow crown
• The White Spruce is often confused with the Engelmann Spruce
• Known as Interior Spruce in the central Interior where it interbreeds with Engelmann Spruce
• Twigs have no hairs
• The White Spruce is shallow rooted so can be easily blown over
• Downed trees are perfect breeding sites for the spruce beetle which can kill hectares of mature trees

• The White Spruce is found through the interior of British Columbia
• The White Spruce grows from seal level to mid-elevations
• Only pure species grows north of Dawson Creek
• The White Spruce can grow in a variety of environments
• Often found with lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, aspen, birch and willow

• The White Spruce can grow up to 40 metres in height and 1 metre in diameter

• seed cones - light brown, purplish; scales are rounded and smooth; open when dry
• pollen cones - pale red

• four sided
• stiff and sharp
• arranged spirally on twigs
• distinctive odor; foul when young but pleasant when older

• scaly
• greyish-brown

• important commercial use

• modern - lumber, pulp
• traditional - saplings: snowshoe frames, bows; resin: glue to fasten skins onto bows and arrowheads onto shafts; decayed wood: tanning hides; bark: baskets, cooking pots, trays

• cones: smooth
• needles: square, smelly, spikey, stiff, spiral arrangement (on twigs)
• bark: scaly