Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Pinaceae > Picea > Picea sitchensis

Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce; Menzies spruce; Silver spruce; Tideland spruce; Western spruce)

Synonyms:
Language: Chi; Cze; Dut; Fre; Ger; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Ita; Nor; Rus; Spa; Swe

Wikipedia Abstract

Picea sitchensis, the Sitka spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to almost 100 m (330 ft) tall, and with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft) (see List of superlative trees). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth largest conifer in the world (behind giant sequoia, coast redwood, kauri and western redcedar); and the third tallest conifer species (after coast redwood and coast Douglas-fir). The Sitka spruce is one of the few species documented to reach 91 metres (299 ft) feet in height. Its name is derived from the community of Sitka, Alaska.
View Wikipedia Record: Picea sitchensis

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  High
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium
Wind Reduction [1]  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]  3 months 21 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Fall
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Moderate
Janka Hardness [4]  510 lbf (231 kgf) Very Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [5]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  30 inches (76 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Low
Seeds Per [2]  209599 / lb (462088 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Conical
Specific Gravity [7]  0.36
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  The tough and flexible root is used in basket making and as a string; The roots were burnt over an open fire to remove the bark, then they were dried and split to make hats, ropes etc; The main body material of baskets was made from the roots. These were cut into lengths 75 - 90cm long and 12 - 25mm in diameter. Whilst still full of sap and soft, these were split into broad flat bands and these in turn were sub-divided by knife and teeth until the desired size was obtained - a little larger than coarse thread, about like small twine. The vertical rods were made of hazel (Corylus spp) and the overlay was bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax); The roots were used by several native North American Indian tribes to make tightly woven baskets that would hold water; The limbs and roots can be pounded, shredded and used to make ropes; A pitch is obtained from the tree and is used for caulking boats, waterproofing boxes etc; The rendered pitch has been used as a glue; The pitch can be melted then used as a protective varnish-like coat on wood; Wood - strong according to some reports; The quality of the wood for aircraft construction is unsurpassed, it is remarkably strong yet light and its resistance - weight ratio is among the highest; The wood is elastic, soft, light, straight grained. Equal in quality to P. abies but more quickly produced, the wood is used for shipbuilding, construction, packing cases, doors, posts etc; The wood is also valued for making musical instruments; The wood is a good fuel, knotted bits of wood would keep the fire burning all night;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  164 feet (50 m)
Width [3]  33 feet (10 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 6 Low Temperature: -10 F° (-23.3 C°) → 0 F° (-17.8 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 7 Low Temperature: 0 F° (-17.8 C°) → 10 F° (-12.2 C°)
Light Preference [6]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [6]  Very Acid
Soil Fertility [6]  Infertile
Soil Moisture [6]  Damp
Water Use [1]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Picea sitchensis

Protected Areas

Emblem of

Alaska

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Chrysomyxa abietis[10]
Chrysomyxa rhododendri[10]
Melanophila acuminata (Black Fire Beetle)[10]
Shelter for 
Arborimus pomo (Sonoma tree vole)[15]

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
♦ 5PLANTATT - Attributes of British and Irish Plants: Status, Size, Life History, Geography and Habitats, M. O. Hill, C. D. Preston & D. B. Roy, Biological Records Centre, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2004)
♦ 6ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 7Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 8HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 9Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 10Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 11New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database
♦ 12FOOD HABITS IN RELATION TO THE ECOLOGY AND POPULATION DYNAMICS OF BLUE GROUSE, RICHARD DENNIS KING, Masters Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1964
♦ 13Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 14Sciurus griseus, Leslie N. Carraway and B. J. Verts, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 474, pp. 1-7 (1994)
♦ 15Arborimus pomo, Michael D. Adam and John P. Hayes, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 593, pp. 1-5 (1998)
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