GLEBE TREES AND SHRUBS

White spruce (Picea glauca)
  




Cones
    
Cones are oval, 2" or so, non-jagged lip
April 22 and 29, 2009 Queen Elizabeth Drive east of Bank St Bridge




Needles
 
White spruce needles are smaller than Colorado spruce and not
as sharp. They have distinct whitish lines. It seems to me that
when a branch is looked at head on, the needles form a simple
whorl around the end bud, as shown here. In the case of Colorado
spruce and Norway spruce, they seem to form a pinwheel whorl.
The needles on the branch underside do not seem to move sideways
as they do for Norway spruce.




    
Similar species
Norway spruce is very similar and common in the Glebe.
The differences I detect are:
The cones are very different. White spruce cones are about 2-3" 
long; oval - not big. Norway spruce are perhaps 6-7" long, and
cylindrical.
The branches: Norway spruce branches usually, but not always,
droop noticeably, somethimes hanging vertically from their
bigger branch. The terminal drooping branch segments are often
longer than white spruce end segments.
Needles: they are very similar but a close examination seems
to show that Norway spruce have no white lines, whereas white
spruce has a rather faint one and this seems to give the white spruce
a paler tint than Norway spruce from a distance. Norway spruce needles
seem a richer green.
Bark: it looks to me like Norway spruce has bigger platy bark. White
spruce bark seems more scaly.

Colorado spruce is often distinctly bluish in colour. The cones
are somewhat longer and paler and the lips of them are fringed, not entire.

Balsam fir: the needles are flat and have two distinct white lines.