Sitka Spruce | Large Tree Seedling

About Sitka Spruce

The Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a large evergreen tree growing up to between 50 and 70m tall — 96m tall in some cases — with a trunk diameter of up to 5m. It is by far the largest species of spruce, and the third-tallest tree species in the world (after Coast Redwood and Douglas Fir).

The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5 – 20cm across. The crown is broad-conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees; old trees may have no branches in the lowest 30 – 40m. The shoots are pale buff-brown, almost white, and glabrous, but with prominent pulvini. The leaves are stiff, sharp and needle-like, 15 – 25mm 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. The cones are pendulous, slender-cylindrical, 5 – 11cm long and 2cm broad when closed, opening to 3cm. They have thin, flexible scales 15 – 20mm long; the bracts just above the scales are the longest of any spruce, occasionally just exerted and visible on the closed cones. They are green or reddish, maturing pale brown 5 – 7 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 3mm long, with a slender, 7 – 9mm long pale brown wing.