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 trunk diameter of about 24 inches. The trunk is straight, with long, stout branches forming a broad, conical crown.
Bark
The bark is dark gray or grayish brown and scaly.
Leaf
Needles are four-sided, needlelike, and crowded along branchlets. They measure 1/3 to 3/4 inch long, are pale bluish when young and dark bluish green when mature, sharply pointed, and emit a slightly unpleasant odor when crushed.
Fruit (seed)
Cones are slender, about 2 inches long, with round, soft ends on the scales that are thin and flexible when mature. Narrow-winged seeds mature in one season. Cones open to release seeds and drop during the winter.
Range
Extensively found in northern Minnesota forests, extending south to the St. Croix Valley. White spruce thrives on dry soils with pine, on moist soils and in swamps with balsam fir and tamarack, and with mixed hardwoods. It is moderately shade tolerant.
Wood uses
The wood is light, strong, soft, straight-grained, and yellowish white. It is used to manufacture a variety of products, most importantly paper. The largest trees are sawed into lumber for general construction, airplanes, furniture parts, canoe paddles, and sounding boards for musical instruments. Planted extensively for ornamental purposes, windbreaks, shelterbelts, and Christmas trees.