Spruce (Picea mariana) in the Spruces Database

Black Spruce is mostly found in much of Alaska and most of Canada where it is a major species in bogs, lowlands, swamps, and along watercourses, then also in northern New England, areas in New York, spots in Pennsylvania and Maryland, northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Its scientific name refers to Maryland. Its short, bluish-green needles are 0,3 to 0.5 inches long and it has tiny rounded cones about 1/2 to 1 inch long. They often hang on the branches for many years. Mature trees grow into a narrow, upright, pyramidal form. Slow growing of about 2/3 feet/year and lives about 200 years. It needs draining wet or moist, acid soils. There are some cultivars that are of compact or very dwarf forms listed in landscape plant books. I don't know of any conventional nurseries growing this species. I bought one of the regular mother species in a one gallon pot at a native plant nursery in southeast PA and then planted it in a bigger pot for the back deck where it is doing well. Its twigs are pale in colour and its short needles are bluish-green and somewhat soft. I've finally seen some wild, mature trees growing in the Tannersville Cranberry Bog that were growing upright and irregular in habit. If I had been able to travel farther into the bog, I probably would have found some better specimens, but much of the floating wooden trail was out on that cloudy, cold day.

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