Sitka spruce
- Latin name: Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carrière
- French name: Épinette de Sitka
- Synonym(s): Coast spruce tideland spruce
- Taxonomic Serial Number: 183309
Description
Leaves
Form
- Straight, flattened
- Keeled below
- Sharp-pointed
- Needles tend to radiate at right angles from the twig
Length
- 20–30 mm
Colour
- Upper surface yellowish-green
- Prominent lines of white dots on lower surface
Buds
Form
- Conical to dome-shaped
- Resinous
- Scales appressed
- Outer scales blunt-tipped, shorter than the bud
Twigs
Form
- Hairless
Colour
- Light grey to yellowish-brown
- Lighter than the buds
Seed cones (mature)
Form
- Broadly cylindrical
Length
- 5–10 cm
Colour
- Scales yellow to light brown
Structure
- Scales thin, brittle, loose-fitting
- Elongated, broadest near the middle
- Outer margin wavy, irregularly toothed
- Bracts visible between open scales
Timing
- Cones open in late autumn
- Shed during the succeeding months
Seeds
Length
- Seed 2–3 mm
- Seed wing 5–8 mm
Colour
- Reddish-brown
Bark
Form
- Thin, broken into large, loose scales
Colour
- Reddish-brown
- Newly exposed bark rusty-grey
Wood
Texture
- Light, soft, resilient
- Relatively strong
Colour
- Heartwood light pinkish-brown with gradual transition into a creamy-white sapwood
Uses
- Wood pulp, lumber
Size
Height
- To 55 m
Diameter
- To 200 cm
Maximum age
- 700–800 years
Tree form
Forest-grown
Trunk
- Massive, often buttressed at the base
Crown
- Rather open
- Principal branches horizontal
- Some secondary branches drooping
- New shoots may develop along the trunk
Root system
Shallow, wide-spreading
Habitat
Site
- Pacific Coast fog belt and along inlets and borders of streams inland for about 150 km to elevations of 500 m
- Most abundant on Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, and in northern coastal forests on deep, well-drained alluvial gravel
Associated species
- Grows in pure stands, more often mixed with western hemlock, Douglas-fir, western redcedar, yellow-cedar, grand fir, red alder, and black cottonwood
Range
Coastal Alaska, British Columbia, southward into the United States
Photos
Photos
Anthony Scullion
Insects and mites
Insects that cause damage to this tree.
-
Spruce beetle
Scientific name: Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby)
Cones or seeds
Foliage or buds
- Archips tsugana (Powell)
-
Cooley spruce gall adelgid
Scientific name: Adelges cooleyi (Gillette)
-
Eastern spruce gall adelgid
Scientific name: Adelges abietis (Linnaeus)
- Egira simplex (Walker)
- Enypia venata (Grote)
- Epinotia hopkinsana (Kraft)
- Eupithecia longipalpata (Packard)
- Eupithecia olivacea (Taylor)
- Eupithecia subfuscata (Haworth)
-
European spruce sawfly
Scientific name: Gilpinia hercyniae (Hartig)
-
Gray spruce looper
Scientific name: Caripeta divisata Walker
-
Green spruce aphid; spruce aphid
Scientific name: Elatobium abietinum (Walker)
-
Green velvet looper
Scientific name: Epirrita autumnata (Harrison)
-
Greenheaded spruce sawfly
Scientific name: Pikonema dimmockii Cresson
-
Greenstriped forest looper
Scientific name: Melanolophia imitata (Walker)
-
Greenstriped webspinning sawfly
Scientific name: Acantholyda balanata (MacGillivray)
-
Hemlock sawfly
Scientific name: Neodiprion tsugae Middleton
- Hydriomena irata Swett
-
Larch pug moth
Scientific name: Eupithecia annulata (Hulst)
-
Lodgepole terminal weevil
Scientific name: Pissodes terminalis (Hopping)
-
Packard’s gridle moth
Scientific name: Enypia packardata (Taylor)
- Pero behrensaria (Packard)
-
Pero moth
Scientific name: Pero morrisonaria (Hy. Edwards)
-
Phantom hemlock looper
Scientific name: Nepytia phantasmaria (Strecker)
- Promylea lunigerella Ragonot
-
Purplestriped shootworm
Scientific name: Zeiraphera unfortunana Powell
-
Redlined conifer caterpillar
Scientific name: Feralia jocosa (Gn.)
- Sabulodes edwardsata (Hulst)
-
Saddleback looper
Scientific name: Ectropis crepuscularia (Denis and Schiffermuller)
-
Silverspotted tiger moth
Scientific name: Lophocampa argentata (Packard)
-
Small pine looper
Scientific name: Eupithecia palpata Pack.
-
Spruce fir looper
Scientific name: Macaria signaria dispuncta (Walker)
-
Spruce spider mite
Scientific name: Oligonychus ununguis (Jacobi)
-
Spruce webspinning sawfly
Scientific name: Cephalcia fascipennis (Cresson)
- Synaxis pallulata (Hulst)
- Syndemis afflictana Walker
- Thallophaga hyperborea (Hulst)
-
Western blackheaded budworm
Scientific name: Acleris gloverana (Walsingham)
-
Western hemlock looper
Scientific name: Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa (Hulst)
-
White pine weevil
Scientific name: Pissodes strobi (Peck)
-
Whitelined looper
Scientific name: Epirrita pulchraria (Taylor)
- Xestia mustelina (Smith)
-
Yellowlined forest looper
Scientific name: Cladara limitaria (Walker)
- Zeiraphera vancouverana McDunnough
Roots, bark, stem or trunk, or branches
Diseases caused by pathogens
Diseases caused by pathogens that cause damage to this tree.
Brown cubical butt and pocket rot of cedar
Pathogen name: Oligoporus sericeomollis (Romell) Bondartseva
-
Brown cubical butt and pocket rot of cedar
Pathogen name: Oligoporus sericeomollis (Romell) Bondartseva
-
Brown cubical sap rot
Pathogen name: Gloeophyllum sepiarium (Wulfen: Fr.) P. Karst.
-
Discocaninia canker
Pathogen name: Discocainia treleasei (Sacc.) Reid & Funk
-
Spruce needle cast (Lophodermium piceae)
Pathogen name: Lophodermium piceae (Fckl.)
Cones or seeds
-
Brown felt blight
Pathogen name: Herpotrichia juniperi (Duby) Petr.
-
Inland spruce cone rust
Pathogen name: Chrysomyxa pirolata G. Wint. in Rabenh.
-
Large-spored spruce – Labrador tea rust
Pathogen name: Chrysomyxa ledicola (Peck) Lagerh.
-
Sirococcus Shoot Blight
Pathogen name: Sirococcus conigenus (Dc.) Cannon & Minter
-
Spruce cone rusts
Pathogen name: Chrysomyxa monensis Ziller
Foliage or buds
-
Brown felt blight
Pathogen name: Herpotrichia juniperi (Duby) Petr.
-
Conifer-aspen rust
Pathogen name: Melampsora medusae f. sp. tremuloidis Shain
-
Large-spored spruce – Labrador tea rust
Pathogen name: Chrysomyxa ledicola (Peck) Lagerh.
-
Needle cast (Lirula macrospora)
Pathogen name: Lirula macrospora (R. Hartig) Darker
-
Phomopsis canker of douglas-fir
Pathogen name: Diaporthe lokoyae Funk
-
Sirococcus Shoot Blight
Pathogen name: Sirococcus conigenus (Dc.) Cannon & Minter
-
Spruce broom rust
Pathogen name: Chrysomyxa arctostaphyli Dietel
Roots, bark, stem or trunk, or branches
Annosus root and butt rot (Heterobasidion occidentale)
Pathogen name: Heterobasidion occidentale Otrosina & Garbel
Brown cubical butt and pocket rot of cedar
Pathogen name: Oligoporus sericeomollis (Romell) Bondartseva
Brown pocket rot of Sitka spruce
Pathogen name: Neolentinus kaufmannii (A. H. Smith) Redhead & Ginns
Pitted sap rot
Pathogen name: Trichaptum abietinum (Dicks.) Ryvarden (Common names for this fungus: purple conk fungus, purple-toothed polypore)
Schweinitzii butt rot
Pathogen name: Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. (Common names for the fungus: velvet-topped polypore, dyer’s polypore)
White butt rot - White laminated rot
Pathogen name: Ceriporiopsis rivulosa (Berk. & Curtis) Gilb. & Ryvarden
Distribution map
