Everything about Norway Spruce totally explained
Norway Spruce (
Picea abies) is a species of
spruce native to
Europe.
It is a large
evergreen coniferous
tree growing to 35-55 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1-1.5 m. The shoots are orange-brown and glabrous (hairless). The
leaves are needle-like, 12-24 mm long, quadrangular in cross-section (not flattened), and dark green on all four sides with inconspicuous
stomatal lines. The
cones are 9-17 cm long (the longest of any spruce), and have bluntly to sharply triangular-pointed scale tips. They are green or reddish, maturing brown 5-7 months after pollination. The
seeds are black, 4-5 mm long, with a pale brown 15 mm wing.
It grows throughout northeast
Europe from
Norway and
Poland eastward, and also in the
mountains of central Europe, southwest to the western end of the
Alps, and southeast in the
Carpathians and
Balkans to the extreme north of
Greece. The northern limit is in the
arctic, just north of 70°N in Norway. Its eastern limit in
Russia is hard to define, due to extensive
hybridisation and intergradation with the
Siberian Spruce (
Picea obovata), but is usually given as the
Ural Mountains. However, trees showing some Siberian Spruce characters extend as far west as much of northern
Finland, with a few records in northeast Norway. The hybrid is known as
Picea x fennica, and can be distinguished by a tendency towards having hairy shoots and cones with smoothly rounded scales.
Cultivation and uses
Norway Spruce is one of the most widely planted spruces, both in and outside of its native range, used in
forestry for
timber and
paper production, and as an ornamental tree in
parks and
gardens. It is also widely planted for use as a
Christmas tree. Every Christmas, the Norwegian capital city of
Oslo provides the cities of
New York,
London and
Washington D.C. with a Norwegian spruce, which is placed at the most central square of each city. This is mainly a sign of gratitude for the aid these countries gave during
the Second World War.
It is naturalised in some parts of
North America, though not so extensively as to be considered an invasive
weed tree. It can grow fast when young, up to 1 m per year for the first 25 years under good conditions, but becomes slower once over around 20 m tall.
Several
cultivars have been selected for garden use.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Norway Spruce'.
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