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Sitka Spruce

The San Juan Spruce: Canada's Largest Sitka Spruce 
Attribution: By Tim Gage from Vancouver, Canada (IMGP3641Uploaded by Skeezix1000) [CC BY-SA 2.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_San_Juan_Spruce_-_the_largest_Sitka_Spruce_in_Canada.jpg

Latin (group) name: Picea
Latin (specific) name: Picea Sitchensis (Bongard) Carriere
Average max height: 160' or more
Average diameter: 3' to 8'
Associated state: none
Category: American Woods
The Softwoods - Conifers



The Tree

Sitka Spruce is the largest of all spruces in this country, reaching a height of 160 feet or more and a diameter of from three to eight feet. The trunk is generally swollen at the base, but with a high clear stem, in dense stands, of 50 to 75 feet. The bark is very thin for a tree of this size, being only one-quarter to one-half inch thick. It is a deep reddish brown or dark purple color and broken into large thin scales. The needles are stiff, prickly, sharply pointed and stand out almost at right angles to the twig and grow all around it. The cones are from two to four inches long, hang down conspicuously from the ends of the high branchlets and are a pale yellow to reddish chocolate color. The largest known living spruce in the world is a Sitka Spruce now growing in the State of Washington. It is 280 feet high and 14 feet in diameter.

sitka spruce cone
Sitka Spruce cone
sitka spruce foliage, sharp and prickly
Sitka Spruce foliage, sharp and prickly
sitka spruce tree bark
Sitka Spruce tree bark

Common Names in Use

  • Sitka Spruce (trade)
  • Great Tideland Spruce (Cal., lit.)
  • Menzies’ Spruce
  • Silver Spruce (trade)
  • Sequoia Silver Spruce (trade)
  • Spruce (trade)
  • Tideland Spruce (Cal., Oreg., Wash.)
  • Western Spruce
  • Western Sitka Spruce (trade)
  • West Coast Spruce (trade)
  • Yellow Spruce (trade)

Growth Range

The Sitka Spruce grows naturally in a very narrow strip along the Pacific Coast from Alaska south to Northern California, at elevations from sea level to 3,000 feet. It is rarely found more than 40 to 50 miles inland.

The Wood

The heartwood of the Sitka Spruce ranges in color from a light pinkish yellow, to tan with a purplish tinge, darkening somewhat on exposure to a silvery brown frequently tinged with red. The sapwood is a creamy white, which gradually shades into the heartwood. The wood is without taste or odor, soft, fine straight-grained, uniform in texture, slightly lustrous, and moderately light in weight. It works very easily and the smooth finish has a silky sheen. It nails easily and holds nails and screws very well.

sitka spruce slab
Sitka Spruce slab

Uses

This wood was very highly prized for aircraft construction before metal planes replaced the wooden craft. Because of its long, strong fibers, Sitka Spruce is a favorite pulpwood for the finer grades of paper. It is used for lumber, boxes, crates, furniture, planing mill products, doors, blinds, sash, general mill work, poultry and apiary supplies, patterns, refrigerators, boat construction, and cooperage. Small quantities are used for piano sounding boards.

File References

  ID T Name Size Last modified Actions
174 Picea Sitchensis (Bongard) Carriere
The San Juan Spruce: Canada's Largest Sitka Spruce
Attribution: By Tim Gage from Vancouver, Canada (IMGP3641Uploaded by Skeezix1000) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_San_Juan_Spruce_-_the_largest_Sitka_Spruce_in_Canada.jpg
483.99 KB 08-17-2019
175 Sitka Spruce Cones And Foliage
The cone and accompanying foliage of a Sitka Spruce
Attribution: By Walter Siegmund [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picea_sitchensis_5713.JPG
122.55 KB 08-17-2019
176 Sitka Spruce Tree Bark
Tree bark of the Sitka Spruce
Attribution: By Botaurus [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forst-Billenhagen-Picea-sitchensis-13-04-2008-177.jpg
339.79 KB 08-17-2019
177 Sitka Spruce Foliage
Picea sitchensis foliage, Wild Pacific Trail, Ucluelet, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Attribution: By Roland Tanglao from Vancouver, Canada (Wild-Pacific-Trail-20100606-IMG_1148.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picea_sitchensis_Wild_Pacific_Trail,_Ucluelet_4.jpg
292.55 KB 08-17-2019
178 Sitka Spruce Slab
Sitka Spruce slab by Cook Woods
Reference: “Live Edge Sitka Spruce Mini Slab.” Cook Woods, https://www.cookwoods.com/products/live-edge-sitka-spruce-mini-slab-3. Accessed 7 Sept. 2018.
85.48 KB 08-17-2019

Bibliography


  • Shelley E. Schoonover (American Woods) 1951 (Watling & Co. ) Santa Monica, CA 


Contributors to this page: admin and John Morris .
Page last modified on Sunday July 24, 2022 17:47:33 PDT by admin.