Click on the images help you identify a white spruce.
Form
Height usually ranges from 40 to 60 feet, occasionally reaching 100 feet, with a diameter of 24 inches. Straight trunk with long, stout branches that form a broad, conical crown.
Bark
Dark gray or grayish brown and scaly.
Leaf
Needlelike, four-sided and crowded along branchlets. Needles measure 1/3 to 3/4 inch long, and are pale bluish when young and dark bluish green when mature. They are sharply pointed and have a slightly unpleasant odor when crushed.
Fruit (seed)
Cones are slender, measuring about 2 inches long. Cone scales are round and soft at the ends, thin and flexible when mature. Narrow-winged seeds mature in one season. Cones drop during winter after opening and shedding seeds.
Range
Extensively found in the forests of northern Minnesota, extending south to the St. Croix Valley. White spruce thrives on dry soils associated with pine, and on moist soils and in swamps with balsam fir and tamarack. It is also found with mixed hardwoods and is moderately shade tolerant.
Wood uses
Light, strong, soft, straight grained and yellowish white. Used to manufacture a variety of products, most importantly paper. The largest white spruce are sawed into lumber and used for general construction, airplanes, furniture parts, canoe paddles and sounding boards for musical instruments. Planted extensively for ornamental purposes, windbreaks, shelterbelts and Christmas trees.