Scientific name: Picea mariana (P.Miller) N.Britton, Sterns & Poggenburg 1888
Synonyms: Abies denticulata Michx., Abies mariana Mill., Abies nigra (Du Roi) Du Roi, Abies nigra var. pumila Knight ex Gordon, Peuce rubra Rich., Picea brevifolia Peck, Picea brevifolia var. semiprostrata Peck, Picea ericoides Bean, Picea mariana f. beissneri (Rehder) Rehder, Picea mariana f. doumetii (Carrière) O.L.Lipa, Picea mariana f. empetroides Vict. & J.Rousseau, Picea mariana f. ericoides (Bean) Rehder, Picea mariana f. fastigiata Rehder, Picea mariana f. grisea Vict., Picea mariana f. mariana Vict., Picea mariana f. nana (Beissn.) Rehder, Picea mariana f. semiprostrata (Peck) S.F.Blake, Picea mariana f. squamea Vict., Picea mariana var. beissneri Rehder, Picea mariana var. brevifolia (Peck) Rehder, Picea mariana var. fastigiata (Rehder) Rehder, Picea mariana var. pendula Fitschen, Picea mariana var. pendula-variegata (Hornibr.) Fitschen, Picea mariana var. semiprostrata (Peck) Teeri, Picea nigra (Du Roi) Link, Picea nigra var. brevifolia (Peck) Rehder, Picea nigra var. doumetii Carrière, Picea nigra var. fastigiata Carrière, Picea nigra var. nana Beissn., Picea nigra var. pendula-variegata Hornibr., Picea nigra var. semiprostrata (Peck) Brainerd, L.R.Jones & Eggl., Picea nigra var. virgata Rehder, Pinus abies var. mariana (Mill.) Münchh., Pinus canadensis var. nigra (Aiton) Du Roi, Pinus canadensis var. nigricans Weston, Pinus denticulata (Michx.) Muhl., Pinus mariana (Mill.) Du Roi, Pinus marylandica Antoine, Pinus nigra Aiton
Common names: Black spruce, Bog spruce, Swamp spruce (English), Épinette noire (French)
Description
Tree to 30 m tall but often dwarfed and less than 10 m on extreme sites, with trunk to 0.3(-0.6) m in diameter. Bark grayish brown, remaining thin and scaly with age. Crown very narrowly cylindrical, often open below and with a denser topknot at the summit, with short, strongly downswept branches turning up at the tips and bearing short side branches in all directions, the lowest branches often rooting into wet mossy substrates to form clonal clumps of trees. New branchlets yellowish brown to orange-brown, with many short, sometimes glandular hairs, especially in the grooves between the leaf bases. Buds 3-5(-6) mm long, not resinous, the outermost scales long and needlelike. Needles initially bluish green with wax (0.6-)0.8-1.5(-2) cm long, curved gently forward, square or slightly flattened, with one or two lines of stomates on the two outer faces and three or four lines on the inner ones, usually blunt. Pollen cones 10-15 mm long, reddish brown. Seed cones (1.5-)2-3(-4) cm long, dark purple before maturity, ripening reddish brown. Seed scales egg-shaped, the edge round and minutely toothed, thin but woody and brittle. Seed body 2-3 mm long, the wing 2-5 mm longer.
The species name means “of Maryland”, even though Picea mariana does not occur in the modern state, because 18th century botanists used the name for a much broader area.
All across northern North America, from Alaska to Newfoundland south to central British Columbia across to southern Manitoba and the Great Lakes states across to the mid-Atlantic US states. Growing in pure stands or mixed with tamarack (Larix laricina) in bogs and with any of the other North American boreal conifers and hardwoods on other site types throughout the boreal forest; 100-800(-1,800) m.
Conservation Status
Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern
This spruce occurs across the North American continent in the boreal zone. Its wide distribution and large population size lead to an assessment of Least Concern.
Picea mariana occurs mostly in bogs or swamps and on permafrost sites ('muskeg'), at elevations between <100 m and 800 m a.s.l., occasionally in western mountains to 1,500 m or 1,800 m a.s.l., on a variety of acid soils, often on peat, in the south predominantly so. The climate is cold subhumid, but with a wide amplitude. Annual precipitation varies from 200 to 1,400 mm, the growing season from 25 to 160 days. Pure stands occur mostly on Sphagnum peat and on permafrost, elsewhere it is usually mixed with Picea glauca, Pinus banksiana and Abies balsamea; Abies lasiocarpa and Pinus contorta in upland regions, and Populus tremuloides after fire. In the SE of its range Picea mariana occurs in a mixed conifer-angiosperm swamp type with Chamaecyparis thyoides, Larix laricina, Abies balsamea, Populus balsamifera, Acer rubrum, Ulmus americana, Fraxinus nigra, and other broad-leaved species.
Black spruce is economically very important as a source of pulpwood especially in the eastern parts of its great range. Its wood is light in weight and strong, nearly white in colour, and contains relatively little resin. It is one of the few spruces in North America in use as a Christmas tree, due to its compact shape when taken from natural stands; this use is now in decline. A 'spruce beer' beverage is brewed using the needles, and young twigs and the needle resin are also distilled for their aromatic properties to be used in cosmetics. There is anecdotal evidence that the drinking of spruce beer saved the English inhabitants of 18th century trading posts in Hudson Bay from succumbing to scurvy, caused by a deficiency of vitamin C in sailor's diets. Native Americans used the split roots to bind together birch bark canoes, as their elastic properties tend to pull the seams tight. In horticulture Black Spruce is valued for its compact, slow growth and often glaucous leaves and a modest number of cultivars, both dwarf forms and variegated forms, are available in the trade.
Black spruce occurs in many protected areas across its range.
Cultivars
Picea mariana ‘#467 WRA’
Picea mariana ‘Argenteovariegata’
Picea mariana ‘Arij’
Picea mariana ‘Aurea’
Picea mariana ‘Aureovariegata’
Picea mariana ‘Austria Broom’
Picea mariana ‘Beehive’
Picea mariana ‘Beissneri’
Picea mariana ‘Beissneri Compacta’
Picea mariana ‘Bergmann’s Sport of Nana’
Picea mariana ‘Ben’
Picea mariana ‘Blue Planet’
Picea mariana ‘Blue Teardrop’
Picea mariana ‘Bron-YR-Aur’
Picea mariana ‘By Accident’
Picea mariana ‘Cooks Nr. 2’
Picea mariana ‘Corbit’
Picea mariana ‘Craig’
Picea mariana ‘CT44 Normanna R’
Picea mariana ‘Dent’
Picea mariana ‘Doumetii’
Picea mariana ‘Doumetii mit Dychytipbildung’
Picea mariana ‘Dunnetta’
Picea mariana ‘Edelweiss Nursery WB 2003’
Picea mariana ‘Edelweiss’
Picea mariana ‘Edelweiss WB’
Picea mariana ‘Edelweiss Weeping’
Picea mariana ‘E.N.2004 WB’
Picea mariana ‘Echiniformis’
Picea mariana ‘Empetroides’
Picea mariana ‘English’
Picea mariana ‘Ericoides’
Picea mariana ‘Ericoides Graft’
Picea mariana ‘Fastigiata’
Picea mariana ‘Filip’s Cool Breeze’
Picea mariana ‘Filip’s Fantastic Blue’
Picea mariana ‘Globosa’
Picea mariana ‘Golden’
Picea mariana ‘Golf Ball’
Picea mariana ‘Horizontalis’
Picea mariana ‘Hwy #4’
Picea mariana ‘Jack William’
Picea mariana ‘Jana’
Picea mariana ‘Karel’
Picea mariana ‘Kvĕta Rys’
Picea mariana ‘Kveta Rijs’
Picea mariana ‘Moose Junction’
Picea mariana ‘Nana’
Picea mariana ‘New Hampshire’
Picea mariana ‘Nicolet Weeping’
Picea mariana ‘OMG’
Picea mariana ‘Pendula’
Picea mariana ‘Pendula Variegata’
Picea mariana ‘Procumbens’
Picea mariana ‘Pumila’
Picea mariana ‘Pygmaea’
Picea mariana ‘Pyramidalis Compacta’
Picea mariana ‘Reath’s W.B.’
Picea mariana ‘Ruddigore’
Picea mariana ‘Schiedel’
Picea mariana ‘Semiprostrata’
Picea mariana ‘Seney’
Picea mariana ‘Smoke Jumper’
Picea mariana ‘Stranger’
Picea mariana ‘Viminalis’
Picea mariana ‘WB Edelweiss’
Picea mariana ‘Wellspire’
Picea mariana ‘Witch’s Broom’
References
- Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
- Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland
Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.