Sitka Spruce               PI-see-a sit-KEN-sis

• Conifer, evergreen tree, 40-60(160) ft [12-18(49) m] tall, broadly conical with thin, horizontally spreading branches or swoop upward. Bark gray smooth, thin, becoming purplish-brown with scaly plates.   Needles stiff, 15-25 mm, on all sides of stem but parted on the underside of horizontal shoots, 4-sided but somewhat flattened (not square in cross-section and not easily roled between your fingers), tip sharp pointed, glossy green above, silvery-white below due to white stomatal lines on both lower surfaces.  (Note, P. pungens var. glauca, Colorado Blue Spruce, is silvery on both sides; i.e., has stomatal lines on all four surfaces.)  Cones cylindrical-oblong, 6-10 cm long.
• Sun.  Prefers a moist to wet, sandy soil and cool, moist air (e.g., coastal fog belt).
• Hardy to USDA Zone 7      Found along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California, sometimes very near the ocean.
• Note:  There are three spruce (Picea) species native to Oregon, namely:
• Engelmann spruce (P. engelmannii)  -  ordinarily grows in mountains above 4,000 ft, often in cold wet environments.  Therefore, it is not found in the Coast Range of Oregon and Washington.
• Sitka spruce (P. sitchensis)  -  found mostly in moist, well-drained sites along the Pacific Coast, seldom more than tens of miles from the ocean.
• Brewer spruce (P. brewerana)  -  native to a relatively limited area; the steep slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California.
(from, Trees to Know in Oregon)
• sitchensis: of Sitka, Alaska
• In the Willamette Valley, aphid-like adelgids produce galls on the tips of young twigs, causing their death.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: large trees northwest of Education Hall