Overview
Picea rubens is an evergreen conifer of northeastern North America, typically 60-100 feet (18-30 m) tall and occasionally to 130 feet (40 m), with a narrow, conical crown and a trunk 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) in diameter. The four-sided needles are 0.4-0.6 inch (10-15 mm) long, yellow-green to dark green, curved, and pointed, attached singly on small woody pegs that remain after the needles fall. New shoots and buds carry short reddish hairs, and the bark is gray-brown and scaly, reddish in the fissures. Pendent cones are 1.2-2 inches (3-5 cm) long, reddish-brown, with stiff, rounded scales, maturing in one season and falling soon after shedding seed. The species grows slowly, is shade tolerant, and may live 300-400 years. It forms the dominant canopy of high-elevation spruce-fir forests in the Appalachians and mixes with balsam fir and birch farther north. It is sensitive to acid deposition and air pollution, which have caused dieback at high elevations, and it grows poorly on hot, dry, or compacted urban sites.
Native Range
Native to northeastern North America, from southeastern Canada including the Maritime Provinces, Quebec, and Ontario, south through New England and along the Appalachian Mountains to the higher elevations of North Carolina and Tennessee. It is widespread in cool, humid montane and coastal forests.Suggested Uses
Used as a specimen and screen in cool-climate landscapes, in reforestation and Christmas-tree production, and as a timber and tonewood species cut for resonant wood. It is poorly suited to warm lowland or urban sites.How to Identify
Appearance
Size & Dimensions
Height60' - 100'
Width/Spread20' - 30'
Reaches mature size in approximately 50 years
Bloom Information
As a conifer, Picea rubens produces cones rather than flowers. Pollen is shed from small yellowish male cones in late spring, usually May to June, while the reddish female cones stand upright before bending downward as they enlarge. Seed cones ripen to brown in autumn of the same year and release winged seeds through winter.
Detailed Descriptions
Foliage Description
yellow-green to dark greenGrowing Conditions
Sun Requirements
Requires 4-8 hours of direct sunlight daily
• Full Sun: 6+ hours of direct sunlight
• Partial Shade: 3-6 hours of direct sunlight
• Full Shade: Less than 3 hours of direct sunlight