RED SPRUCE
Picea rubra, (DuRoi) Deitr.
Form.—Height 70-80 feet, diameter 2-3 feet; trunk straight, continuous, free from limbs to a considerable height when in close stands; crown conical; limbs somewhat drooping below, horizontal in the middle, ascending above.
Leaves.—Crowded and diverging in all directions from the twig; rounded or acute points, ½-⅝ inch long, dark yellow-green.
Flowers.—April-May; monoecious; staminate oval, almost sessile, red; pistillate oblong, with thin rounded scales.
Fruit.—Cones ovate-oblong, narrowed from middle to acute apex; 1¼-2 inches long; scales reddish-brown with entire margins.
Bark.—Roughened by thin, irregular-shaped brown scales.
Wood.—Light, soft, close-grained, not strong, pale in color, with whitish sapwood.
Range.—Newfoundland to West Virginia and southward along the Alleghany Mountains to northern Georgia, west to Minnesota.
Distribution in West Virginia.—Growing at high elevation in Grant, Tucker, Randolph, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Webster, Nicholas and Greenbrier counties. Now largely removed by lumbermen.
Habitat.—Well-drained uplands; also on mountain tops and occasionally on borders of swamps.
Notes.—Since this species is the only native spruce in West Virginia there is no cause for confusing it with anything else. Norway spruce has much larger cones. Originally red spruce was one of our principal lumber trees, but when it is removed there is but little natural reproduction. Often planted for shade. Wood used for construction, musical instruments, furniture, aeroplanes and paper pulp.