Sitka spruce

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