White Spruce
Picea glauca
White spruce is a hardy, adaptable northern spruce forming the backbone of the boreal forest, with dense conical form and short blue-green needles. Tolerant of cold, wind, and varied soils. Like other spruces, young catkins, immature cones, and inner bark have all served as food, and the shoot tips brew into a vitamin C-rich tea.
- Family
- Pinaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 40–60 ft
- Spacing
- 10–20 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- April, May
- Bloom colors
- red, yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~150 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- hedge or screen, naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, CT, ID, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NH, NY, PA, SD, VT, WA, WI, WY
Related native plants
More Picea species
- Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis)
- Red Spruce (Picea rubens)
- Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii)
- Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens)