(Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns et Poggenb.)
Habitus
- tree in the homeland growing to a height of 20 - 30 m
- crown is slender, conical, later wide-conical
- branches grow in whorls, standing almost horizontally
- bark is reddish, later changes to a scaly peeling bork
Shoots
- one-year shoots are reddish-brown, in the second year dark brown, glandular hairy
Leaves (assimilation organs)
- assimilating organs are needle-like
- needles are 7-15 x 0.4 mm in size, square, pointed, bluish-green, dull, with grayish bands of stomata on the underside
- they grow in a spiral, are densely arranged, almost evenly covering the upper side of the branches
Flowers
- wood monoecious, flowers of different sexes, blooms IV – V
- male (♂) cones are oblong-ovoid, purple, grow in the axils of needles
- female (♀) cones are broadly ovoid to spherical, purple to violet, short-stalked, grow from buds on the sides of the branches in the upper parts of the crown, initially upright, later drooping
Fruits – seeds
- the fruit is a cone 20 - 35 x 15 - 20 mm in size (one of the smallest in the spruce genus), broadly ovoid, dark purple before ripening, dark brown to grayish after ripening
- seed scales they are firm, slightly toothed along the edge
Extension
- in North America it forms the polar border of the forest
- grows from the Atlantic Ocean in the east across the entire continent to Alaska, in the south to Virginia and Wisconsin, between 43° - 68° N. from widths at altitudes of 200 - 1,700 m above the sea level
- it has been cultivated in Europe since 1700
Ecology
- undemanding to the climate and soil
- frost-resistant
Significance
- decorative woody plant with habit, purple flowers
- several height and color forms are known
- it is grown in parks
