Sitka Spruce
Sitka Spruce 50-55 m tall in a forestry plantation in Britain
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pinophyta Class: Pinopsida Order: Pinales Family: Pinaceae Genus: Picea Species: P. A tree farm is privately owned forest managed for timber crop production The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. The Order Pinales in the Division Pinophyta, Class Pinopsida comprises all the extant Conifers This order was formerly known as the The family Pinaceae ( pine family) is in the order Pinales and includes many of the well-known Conifers of commercial importance such as Cedars Spruce refers to Trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of Coniferous Evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae sitchensis
Binomial name
Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.

The Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50-70 m tall, exceptionally to 90 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m. August Gustav Heinrich von Bongard (1786-1839 was a German Botanist, who worked at Saint Petersburg, Russia. Élie-Abel Carrière (1818&ndash1896 was a French Botanist, based in Paris. In Botany, an Evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or It is by far the largest species of spruce, and the third tallest conifer species in the world (after Coast Redwood and Coast Douglas-fir). Spruce refers to Trees of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of Coniferous Evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living Species of the Genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly The Coast Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii var menziesii) a variety of Douglas-fir, is an Evergreen Conifer native It acquires its name from the community of Sitka, Alaska. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent

Quinault Lake Spruce, third largest in the world by volume

Foliage, showing the blue-green undersides of the needles

Foliage, mature seed cone and (center) old pollen cone

Sitka Spruce forest in the Olympic Mountains, Washington

Young Sitka Spruce in Kielder, a forestry plantation in Britain

The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5-20 cm across. The Olympic Mountains are a Mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Kielder Forest is a large Forestry plantation in Northumberland, England. Fundamentally a plantation is usually a large Farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country on which Cotton, Tobacco Bark, also known as periderm is the outermost layer of stems and Roots of Woody plants such as Trees It overlays the Wood and consists The crown is broad conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees; old trees may have no branches in the lowest 30-40 m. The shoots are very pale buff-brown, almost white, and glabrous (hairless) but with prominent pulvini. The leaves are stiff, sharp and needle-like, 15-25 mm long, flattened in cross-section, dark glaucous blue-green above with two or three thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two dense bands of stomata. In Botany, a leaf is an above-ground Plant organ specialized for Photosynthesis. In Botany, a stoma (also stomate; plural stomata) is a tiny opening or pore found mostly on the underside of a Plant Leaf

The cones are pendulous, slender cylindrical, 5-11 cm long and 2 cm broad when closed, opening to 3 cm broad. A cone (in formal botanical usage Strobilus, plural strobili is an organ on Plants in the division Pinophyta ( Conifers They have thin, flexible scales 15-20 mm long; the bracts just above the scales are the longest of any spruce, occasionally just exserted and visible on the closed cones. They are green or reddish, maturing pale brown 5-7 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 3 mm long, with a slender, 7-9 mm long pale brown wing. A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored

Sitka Spruce is native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on Kodiak Island, Alaska, and its southeastern limit near Fort Bragg in northern California (Griffin & Critchfield 1972). Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the US state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Fort Bragg is a city located in coastal Mendocino County California along State Route 1, the major north-south highway along the Pacific Coast California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is closely associated with the temperate rain forests and is found within a few kilometers of the coast in the southern portion of its range. Temperate rainforests are Coniferous or broadleaf Forests that occur in the Temperate zone and receive high rainfall North of Oregon, its range extends inland along river floodplains, but nowhere does its range extend more than 80 km from the Pacific Ocean and its inlets. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions

More than a century of logging has left only a remnant of the spruce forest. The largest trees were cut long before careful measurements could be made. Trees over 90 m tall may still be seen in the Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (the Carmanah Giant, at 96 meters (315 ft) tall the tallest tree in Canada), and in the Olympic National Park, Washington and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California (USA); two at the last site are just over 96 meters (315 ft) tall. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a Canadian National park in British Columbia made up of three separate regions Long Beach the Broken Group Islands Vancouver Island is a large Island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Olympic National Park is located in the US state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The "Redwood National and State Parks" (RNSP are located in the United States along the coast of northern California. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Queets Spruce is the largest in the world with a trunk volume of 337 m³ (11,901 cubic feet). It is located near the Queets River in Olympic National Park, about 16 miles (26 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Olympic National Park is located in the US state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. The fourth-largest tree, known as the Seaside Spruce or the Klootchy Creek Giant, with a height of 58. 2 meters (191 ft) and a volume of 296 m³ (10,453 cubic feet)^[1] blew down on December 2, 2007 during a windstorm, reducing it to 75 feet (23 m) tall. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The Great Coastal Gale of 2007 was a series of powerful Pacific storms that affected the U This was not unexpected as the tree had been hit by lightning and damaged in previous storms. ^[2] The Quinault Lake Spruce (pictured left) is the third largest in the world with a wood volume of 298 m³ (10,524 cubic feet). It is located near the eastern tip of Lake Quinault north of Aberdeen, Washington, about 24 miles (39 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Lake Quinault is a Lake on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state Aberdeen (ˈæbɚdiːn is a city in Grays Harbor County Washington, United States, founded by Samuel Benn in 1884

Sitka Spruce is a long-lived tree, with individuals over 700 years old known. Because it grows rapidly under favorable conditions, large size may not indicate exceptional age. The Queets Spruce has been estimated to be only 350 to 450 years old, but adds more than a cubic meter of wood each year (Van Pelt, 2001).

A unique specimen with golden foliage that used to grow on the Queen Charlotte Islands, known as Kiidk'yaas, is sacred to the Haida Native American people. The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii ("Islands of the People" and originally in Haida, Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai ("islands on Kiidk'yaas or Kiid K'iyaas ("ancient tree" also referred to as the Golden Spruce, was a Sitka Spruce Tree, Picea sitchensis The Haida (19th C-early 20th C Indigenous nation of the west coast of North America. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. It was illegally felled, although saplings grown from cuttings can now be found near its original site.

Uses

Sitka Spruce is of major importance in forestry for timber and paper production. Forestry is the Art and Science of managing forests tree Plantations and related Natural resources. Lumber or timber is Wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural Material for Construction, or Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon printing upon or packaging It is used widely in piano, harp, violin, and guitar manufacture, as its high strength-to-weight ratio and regular, knot-free rings make it an excellent conductor of sound. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The Steinway & Sons piano company is well known for using exclusively Sitka Spruce soundboards in its pianos. Steinway & Sons (often called Steinway) is a Piano maker since 1853 in New York City, USA. The sounding board or soundboard is the part of a String instrument that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the air greatly increasing the Loudness The harp company, Lyon & Healy, is well known for it use of Sitka Spruce for the soundboard of their harps as well. Lyon & Healy (founded in 1864 built its first harp in 1889 and is one of the few major Harp Manufacturers in the world along with Salvi of Italy and For these reasons, the wood is an important material for sailing boat spars, homebuilt aircraft, and the nosecones of Trident missiles [1]. In some cases less is more The purpose of this article is to give an overview In Sailing, a spar is also know as a round pole of wood or Metal used on a Sailing ship. Also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, homebuilt aircraft are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity This article contains technical information about the Trident ballistic missile

A Pineapple gall 'pseudocone' caused by Adelges abietis on a Sitka Spruce. The Pineapple or Pseudocone gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of up to a hundred pine needles mostly on Norway Spruce and Sitka Spruce.

Dissected Pineapple 'pseudocone' Galls.

Outside of its native range, it is particularly valued for its fast growth on poor soils and exposed sites where few other trees can be grown successfully; in ideal conditions young trees may grow 1. 5 m per year. It is naturalized in some parts of Ireland and Great Britain where it was introduced in 1831 (Mitchell, 1978) and New Zealand, though not so extensively as to be considered invasive. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Introduced species|Weed Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions Sitka Spruce is also planted extensively in Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( In Norway sitka spruce was introduced in the early 1900s. It has mainly been planted along the coast from Vest-Agder in the south to Troms in the north. (West Agder is a county in Norway, bordering Rogaland to the west and Aust-Agder to the east or Romsa ( Sami language) is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest It is more tolerant to wind and saline ocean air, and grows faster than the native Norwegian Spruce. Norway Spruce ( Picea abies) is a species of Spruce native to Europe. It is estimated that 500 000 decare in Norway are planted with sitka spruce. The decare is a unit for the measurement of area generally used for land area ^[3][2]

Newly grown tips of Sitka Spruce branches are used to flavour spruce beer and are boiled to make syrup. Spruce beer is a Beverage flavored with the Buds needles or essence of Spruce Trees Spruce has been a traditional flavoring ingredient In Cooking, a syrup (from Arabic' ar شراب sharab, beverage via Latin siropus) is a thick Viscous Liquid

The root bark of Sitka Spruce trees is used in Native Alaskan basket-weaving designs. Alaska Natives are Indigenous peoples of the Americas native to the state of Alaska within the United States.

References and external links

• Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Picea sitchensis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 6 May 2006.
• Van Pelt, R. 2001. Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-98140-7.
• Griffin, J. R. & Critchfield, W. B. 1976. Distribution of forest trees in California. USDA Forest Service Research Paper PSW-82: 23-24, 75.
• Mitchell, A. 1978. Trees of Britain & Northern Europe. Collins Field Guide. HarperCollins. London. ISBN 0-00-219213-6

• Gymnosperm Database
• Flora of North America
• Arboretum de Villardebelle - photos of cones of Picea sitchensis and related spruces
• Prof Stephen Sillett's webpage with photos taken during canopy research. Canopy research is the field of Scientific research based upon data collected in the canopy of trees
• Description of Sitka Spruce in forestry by US Department of Agriculture.

See also

Kiidk'yaas