How do I identify a red spruce tree?
Identification of the Red Spruce: Red Spruce trees have four-sided, short,yellowish green needles on woody pegs. The cones, which fall soon after maturity, are around 1.5 inches long. They hang pendantly and are reddish-brown and woody. The slender new twigs have a reddish coat of down through the first year.
How do you tell the difference between a white spruce and a red spruce?
Differentiating Red Spruce from White Spruce is somewhat trickier. The needles of Red Spruce are yellowish green, in contrast to the bluish green needles of the White Spruce. Moreover, the needles of the Red Spruce exude a fruity scent similar to that of orange rind when crushed.
Is red spruce a hardwood?
Red Spruce | The Wood Database – Lumber Identification (Softwood)
What is red spruce used for?
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : Red spruce is one of the more important timber species in the northeastern United States. The wood is light in weight, straight grained, and resilient. It is used for paper, construction lumber, and is highly preferred for musical instruments [9,29].
Is red spruce native?
Picea rubens, commonly known as red spruce, is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec and Nova Scotia, west to the Adirondack Mountains and south through New England along the Appalachians to western North Carolina.
What is spruce good for?
Spruce pulp is important in the paper industry, and timber from the trees is used in a variety of applications. Resonant spruce wood is used for sounding boards in pianos and the bodies of violins as well as in construction and for boats, airplanes, and barrels.
How do I identify a spruce tree?
Spruce trees can be identified by their needles which have four sides. Each needle is individually attached to the branch and can be rolled easily between your fingers. Another way to identify spruce trees is by their cones that are covered with smooth thin scales. It is quite easy to bend the cones of spruce trees.
How tall is a Red Spruce?
Red spruce is a medium-sized conifer and the provincial tree of Nova Scotia. It can live for more than 400 years. Some trees can grow up to 25 metres in height, with a trunk diameter of 60 centimetres at the base.
Is spruce a hard or soft wood?
Examples of softwood trees are cedar, Douglas fir, juniper, pine, redwood, spruce, and yew. Hardwood refers to wood from broad-leaved trees such as oak, ash or beech.
Is spruce harder than pine?
For all structural applications, pine and spruce are interchangeable. This includes studs and beams, struts, braces and framing for shelf supports. Because spruce has a higher strength-to-weight ratio, it may have a slight advantage over pine for structural applications.
Is red spruce edible?
Edible Uses Young male catkins – raw or cooked. Used as a flavouring[172]. Immature female cones – cooked. The central portion, when roasted, is sweet and syrupy[172].
How fast do red spruce trees grow?
Red Spruce can be a bit slow-growing at first; However, it is capable of growing 1 foot or more a year in good conditions.