Feature Tree
Spruce, Norway
Picea abies
Family:  Pinaceae  pdf

Hardiness Zone: 3b - 7

Range: Native to Northern and Central Europe, it was introduced in colonial times.

Growth Habit: In youth, Norway Spruce is stiff, but has a fast growth rate and a dense habit. Growth slows some with maturity and trees become a bit more open and pyramidal with graceful upward sweeping branches. It can grow to over 100’, but most trees are 40 – 60 feet high by 25- 30 feet wide.

With adequate moisture Norway Spruce will do well in moderate soils, but prefers moderately moist, sandy, well drained, acidic soils. Norway Spruce also prefers full sun and a cold climate

Leaves: Stiff, ½ - 1” long needles are shiny green with each needle borne on a on a raised, woody peg (sterigma). Needles persist for 3 – 4 years.

Buds: Buds are about ¼” long and rosette-shaped. They are reddish-brown in color and not resinous.

Flowers: Male and female flowers occur on the same plant. Male flowers are infrequent and axillary while female flowers are reddish pink, terminal, and found throughout the crown of the tree.

Twigs: Hairless, shinny orange-brown twigs are slender to medium in size with loose orange-brown scales

Bark: Young bark is scaly and reddish–brown in color. It turns thick on older trees with gray-brown flaky scales.

Fruit: The fruit, better known as a pine cone, is 4 – 6” long, 1 – 1 ½ “ wide and cylindrical. While purplish in youth, the cones mature in the fall and turn light brown. Cones contain 1/6” long, brownish black seed with a 1/2 “ wide wing.

Pests & Diseases: Budworm, borers, red spider, tip weevils, and spruce gall aphid are all known to attack Norway Spruce.

Uses: Used extensively as a landscape tree, Norway Spruce is also used as a windbreak and shelter.

Cultivars: Many different cultivars. Some common ones:
     ‘Nidiformis’ – Bird’s Nest Spruce, a dense, spreading form typically found with depression in the center of the plant
     ‘Pumilla” – dwarf, globular, flat and compact
     ‘Repens’ – wide-spreading and very uniform

Sources

Pictures provided by UConn Plant Database.

Brand, Mark H. Picea abies – Plant Page. UConn Plant Database of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines.

Dirr, Michael. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Stipes Publishing Company. Champaign, IL,
1990

Picea abies Fact Sheet. Virginia Tech, Department of Forestry, College of Natural Resources.