White Spruce
Picea glauca
Family Pinaceae

Characteristics:
* Needles blue-green, 3/8-3/4".
* Twigs and buds hairless.
* Branchlets do not droop.
* Cones 1-2" long, scales flexible, dropping soon after maturing.
* In the far North and on high mountains, a low matlike form occurs in exposed locations.
* Height: 50-60', sometimes as high as 150' in the Canadian Rockies.

Natural History:
* Habitat: Upland forests.
* Range: Canada, Alaska, and northern United States.
* Native.

Connections!
* The first European to see the White Spruce was Jacques Cartier, sailing up the Saguenay River in what is now Quebec in 1535. He wrote, "We have seen and found as beautiful a country and lands and views as one could wish for, level as aforementioned, and the finest trees in the world, to wit Oaks, elms, walnuts, cedars, spruces, ash trees, willows, and wild vines."

* White Spruce has been often logged for lumber and wood pulp.