Picea sitchensis

Picea sitchensis, the Sitka spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to almost 100 m (330 ft) tall, and with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft) (see List of superlative trees). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth largest conifer in the world (behind giant sequoia, coast redwood, kauri and western redcedar); and the third tallest conifer species (after coast redwood and coast Douglas-fir). The Sitka spruce is one of the few species documented to reach 91 metres (299 ft) feet in height. It acquires its name from the community of Sitka, Alaska.

Description

The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5–20 cm (2.0–7.9 in) across. The crown is broad conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees; old trees may not have branches lower than 30–40 m (98–131 ft). The shoots are very pale buff-brown, almost white, and glabrous (hairless) but with prominent pulvini. The leaves are stiff, sharp and needle-like, 15–25 mm long, flattened in cross-section, dark glaucous blue-green above with two or three thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two dense bands of stomata.