Cones on a tree in a recently-burned muskeg, central Alaska [C.J. Earle].
Common Names
Black spruce, bog spruce, swamp spruce, épinette noire (Canadian French) (2).
Taxonomic notes
Syn: Abies mariana Miller 1768; Picea brevifolia Peck; P. mariana var. brevifolia (Peck) Rehder; P. nigra (Aiton) Link; Pinus nigra Aiton (2)."To a limited extent, Picea mariana hybridizes with P. rubens , e.g., on disturbed sites in eastern Canada. Natural hybridization with P. glauca , though reported, remains unverified (Gordon 1976)" (2).
Description
Trees to 25 m tall and 25 cm dbh (often much smaller, occurring as krummholz near the arctic treeline); "crown narrowly conic to spirelike. Bark gray-brown. Branches short and drooping, frequently layering; twigs not pendent, rather slender, yellow-brown, pubescent. Buds gray-brown, ca. 3 mm, apex acute. Leaves 0.6-1.5(2) cm, 4-angled in cross section, rigid, pale blue-green, glaucous, bearing stomates on all surfaces, apex mostly blunt-tipped. Seed cones 1.5-2.5(-3.5) cm [in cultivation rarely to 4.5 cm]; scales fan-shaped, broadest near apex, 8-12 × 8-12 mm, rigid, margin at apex irregularly toothed. 2 n =24" (2). Cones fusiform, matt, dark purple ripening purple-brown (c.f. P. rubens ovoid, glossy, orange-brown).Range
Canada: all provinces; France: St. Pierre and Miquelon; USA: Alaska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine at 0-1500 m in muskegs, bogs, bottomlands, and relatively dry peatlands (2). See also (4). USDA hardiness zone 2.Big Tree
Height 24 m, dbh 50 cm, crown spread 6 m, located in Taylor County, WI (3).Oldest
Payette & Gagnon (1979, p.244) report crossdated ages up to 300 years.Dendrochronology
Ethnobotany
Although it is a small tree, vast tracts of it are currently being logged in Canada, primarily for pulp but also for timber (for example, the chopsticks provided at fast-food restaurants in the Far East are usually P. mariana ).Observations
Readily encountered in its native habitat throughout Canada, Alaska, and northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine.Remarks
Black spruce is the provincial tree of Newfoundland (2).Citations
(1) Silba 1986 .(2) Ronald J. Taylor at the Flora of North America web site .
(3) American Forests 1996 .
(4) Robert S. Thompson, Katherine H. Anderson and Patrick J. Bartlein. 1999. Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1650 A&B. URL= http://greenwood.cr.usgs.gov/pub/ppapers/p1650-a/pages/conifers.html, accessed 22-Jan-2000.
See also:
Burns & Honkala 1990
.
Farjon 1990
.
FEIS database
.
Little & Pauley 1958
Morgenstern & Farrar 1964
.
This page co-edited with Michael P. Frankis, Dec-1998.
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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/pi/pic/mariana.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:
earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 24-Jan-2000