Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Pinaceae > Picea > Picea mariana

Picea mariana (Black spruce; Bog spruce; Swamp spruce)

Synonyms:
Language: Dut; Fre; Ger; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Ita; Spa

Wikipedia Abstract

Picea mariana (black spruce) is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 Arctic territories. Its range extends into northern parts of the United States: in Alaska, the Great Lakes region, and the upper Northeast. It is a frequent part of the biome known as taiga or boreal forest.
View Wikipedia Record: Picea mariana

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  None
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-High
Bloom Period [2]  Late Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  None
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  60 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Summer
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  The sawdust, the resin from the trunk and even the needles can cause dermatitis in some people;
Janka Hardness [4]  520 lbf (236 kgf) Very Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  16 inches (41 cm)
Scent [3]  The crushed foliage has a strong scent of balsam or lemon balm.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  404799 / lb (892430 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Conical
Specific Gravity [5]  0.46
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  A yellow-orange dye is obtained from the cones; Various native North American Indian tribes made a string from the long roots of this species and used it to stitch the bark of their canoes, to sew baskets etc; The pitch obtained from the trunk has been used as a sealing material on the hulls of canoes; Wood - light, soft, not strong; It weighs 28lb per cubic foot; Since it is a smaller tree than the other spruces, it is not an important lumber source for uses such as construction; However, it is widely used for making boxes, crates etc;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  66 feet (20 m)
Width [3]  13.12 feet (4 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 5 Low Temperature: -20 F° (-28.9 C°) → -10 F° (-23.3 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [2]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [1]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Picea mariana

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Emblem of

Newfoundland & Labrador

Predators

Consumers

Shelter for 
Falco columbarius (Merlin)[9]
Tamiasciurus hudsonicus (red squirrel)[9]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 9Making The Forest And Tundra Wildlife Connection
♦ 10Negron, Jose F. 1995. Cone and Seed Insects Associated with Piñon Pine. In: Shaw, Douglas W.; Aldon, Earl F.; LoSapio, Carol, technical coordinators. Desired future conditions for piñon- juniper ecosystems: Proceedings of the symposium; 1994 August 8-12; Flagstaff, AZ. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-258. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station: 97-106.
♦ 11Exploring the Denali Food Web, ParkWise, National Park Service
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0