Flora of North America species comparison

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Picea breweriana

Picea rubens

Brewer spruce, weeping spruce

red spruce, épinette rouge
Habit Trees to 40m; trunk to 1.5m diam., typically buttressed; crown conic. Trees to 40m; trunk to 1m diam.; crown narrowly conic.
Bark

gray to brown.

gray-brown to reddish brown.
Branches

drooping;

twigs pendent, elongate, slender, gray-brown, finely pubescent.

horizontally spreading;

twigs not pendent, rather stout, yellow-brown, densely pubescent to glabrate.
Buds

gray-brown, 5–7mm, apex rounded.

reddish brown, 5–8mm, apex acute.
Leaves

1.5–3cm, flattened or broadly triangular in cross section (abaxial surface rounded or slightly angular), rather rigid, abaxial surface dark green with stomatal bands absent, adaxial surface glaucous with conspicuous stomatal bands separated by slight ridge or angle, apex blunt (especially on older leaves).

0.8–2.5(–3)cm, 4-angled in cross section, somewhat flexuous, yellow-green to dark green, not glaucous, bearing stomates on all surfaces, apex mostly acute to sharp-pointed.
Seed

cones 6.5–12cm;

scales fan-shaped, 15–20 × 15–20mm, rigid, margin at apex entire to slightly erose.

cones 2.3–4.5(–5)cm;

scales broadly fan-shaped, broadest near apex, 8–12 × 8–12mm, stiff, margin at apex entire to irregularly toothed.
2n

=24.

Picea breweriana

Picea rubens
Habitat Montane to subalpine forests of the Siskiyou Mountains Upper montane to subalpine forests
Elevation 1000–2300m (3300–7500ft) 0–2000m (0–6600ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; PA; TN; VA; VT; WV; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Throughout the Appalachians, trees of Picea rubens are dying, possibly as a consequence of environmental pollution. In eastern Canada this species hybridizes to a limited extent with P. mariana (A.G. Gordon 1976).

Red spruce (Picea rubens) is the provincial tree of Nova Scotia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pinaceae > Picea Pinaceae > Picea
Sibling taxa
P. abies, P. engelmannii, P. glauca, P. mariana, P. pungens, P. rubens, P. sitchensis
P. abies, P. breweriana, P. engelmannii, P. glauca, P. mariana, P. pungens, P. sitchensis
Synonyms P. australis, P. nigra var. rubra, P. rubra
Name authority S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 20: 378. (1885) Sargent: Silva 12: 33, plate 597. (1898)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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