Flora of North America species comparison

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Picea sitchensis

Sitka spruce, épinette de Sitka
Habit Trees to 80m; trunk to 5m diam.; crown narrowly conic.
Bark

grayish brown to orange-brown.
Branches

somewhat drooping;

twigs not pendent, rather stout, pinkish brown, glabrous.
Buds

reddish brown, 5–10mm, apex rounded.
Leaves

(1.2–)1.5–2.5(–3)cm, flattened or broadly triangular in cross section (abaxial surface rounded or slightly angular), rather rigid, blue-green to light yellow-green, abaxial surface darker green with stomatal bands very narrow or absent, adaxial surface glaucous with conspicuous stomatal bands separated by ridge, apex sharp-pointed.
Seed

cones 5–9(–10)cm;

scales variable, elliptic to narrowly diamond-shaped, 15–22 × 12–16mm, rather rigid, margin at apex erose, apex extending 4–8mm beyond seed-wing impression.
2n

=24.

Picea sitchensis
Habitat Pacific coastal forests
Elevation 0–900m (0–3000ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Picea sitchensis intergrades extensively with P. glauca in the river inlets of north coastal British Columbia and coastal Alaska. The name P. × lutzii Little is applied to hybrids between the two species (R.Daubenmire 1968).

Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is the state tree of Alaska.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pinaceae > Picea
Sibling taxa
P. abies, P. breweriana, P. engelmannii, P. glauca, P. mariana, P. pungens, P. rubens
Synonyms Pinus sitchensis, Abies falcata, Abies menziesii, P. falcata, P. menziesii, Pinus menziesii
Name authority (Bongard) Carrière
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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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