• Home
  • Coniferous Animals
  • Coniferous Trees
  • About Coniferous Forest
  • Contact
Home > Spruce > Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce

What is Sitka spruce?

Named after the Sitka community in Alaska, the Sitka spruce is a species of large evergreen conifers found in the western coastal regions of North America at an elevation of 400-1000 m. Being the third tallest coniferous tree species in the world, the Sitka spruce is known to reach over 90 meters in height.

Sitka Spruce

Sitka Spruce

Scientific Classification

KingdomPlantae
DivisionPinophyta
ClassPinopsida
OrderPinales
FamilyPinaceae
GenusPicea
Scientific NamePicea sitchensis
Sitka Spruce Images

Sitka Spruce Images

Quick Information

Other NamesMenzies’ spruce, Yellow spruce, Tideland spruce, Western spruce, Silver spruce, Coast spruce
SizeCommonly 70-80 m tall; straight trunk with a diameter of 500 cm dbh
IdentificationLeaves: Stiff, needle-like; 15-25 mm long, cross-section is flattened; blue-green above with 2-3 thin lines, bluish-white below with two bands of stomata

Cones: Slim, cylindrical, pendulous, 6-10 cm in length, 2-3 cm in width; green or reddish when young, light brown when matured; thin, flexible scales and black seeds

Bark: Thin, scaly, comes off in circular plates measuring 5-20 cm across

Crown/TopBroad, conic when young, become cylindrical at maturity
Distribution/RangeBritish Columbia (Canada); Alaska, Oregon, California, Washington (USA)
Hardiness Zones7-8
Growth RateGrows rapidly, 1.5 m per year
LifespanLong-lived tree; can live for more than 700 years
Growing ConditionsWinter Conditions: Thrives in areas with mild winters

Summer Conditions: Places where summers are cool

Rain: Needs moist conditions; annual precipitation varies between 635 mm and 5615 mm within its range

Sunlight: Prefers exposure to full sun; tolerates partial shade

Soil Requirements: Deep, moist, sandy, acidic, well-aerated; alluvial soil rich in magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus

Diseases and PestsRoot rot caused by Armillaria mellea and Heterobasidion annosum; brown pocket rot, red heart rot, cottonwood rust, spruce broom rust, and some other diseases affecting foliage and stem; pest insects such as spruce beetle, white pine weevil, spruce aphid, and root-collar weevil
Flowering/FruitingCones are produced between 20 and 40 years of age, reproductive buds develop in early summer, pollens are shed during late April-early June
Breeding SystemMonoecious
Seed ProductionSeeds ripen during late August-early September, dispersed in October; to release seeds, cones open when the weather is dry but reclose during wet conditions
Seedling DevelopmentSeeds germinate on any seedbed, though their survival is low
Wildlife ValueLarge ungulates browse the shoots and leaves in the spring; the blue grouse feeds on the needles in the winter; habitat for woodland caribou, mountain goat, Roosevelt elk, Alaskan brown bear, and Sitka deer; used by the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon for nesting and roosting
Hybrids and Cultivars
  • Picea x lutzii Little
  • Picea mariana x Sitka spruce
  • Picea sitchensis cv. ‘Papoose’ (dwarf Sitka spruce)
UsesTimber, paper production, the lumber is used for making sounding boards for pianos, violins, and guitar faces; the wood is valuable in constructing components of light aircraft, sailboat spars, masts, and oars, as well as arrow shafts
IUCN Conservation StatusLeast Concern
Sitka Spruce Bark

Sitka Spruce Bark

Sitka Spruce Pictures

Sitka Spruce Pictures

Comparison with Engelmann and Adirondack Spruce

Adirondack spruce vs. Sitka spruce: Adirondack spruce has four-sided, curved, and yellowish-green needles while Sitka spruce has flattened, bluish-green needles; the cones in Sitka spruce are much larger than those in Adirondack spruce.

Engelmann spruce vs. Sitka spruce: The Sitka spruce trees are larger and taller than Engelmann spruce, and their native range does not extend beyond 80 km from the Pacific coast.

Sitka Spruce Cones

Sitka Spruce Cones

Sitka Spruce Leaf

Sitka Spruce Leaf

Interesting Facts

  • The Queets Spruce, located in Olympic National Park, is the largest Sitka spruce in the world with a trunk diameter of 14.9 ft (4.55 m) at breast height, trunk volume of 11,900 cu ft (337 m3), and a height of 248 ft (75.6 m).
  • The Sitka spruce Carmanah Giant, located in Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, is the tallest in Canada with a height of 315 ft (96 m).
  • Some of the Sitka spruce trees in Olympic National Forest, Washington often develop tumor-like swellings, called burls.
  • The Wright Flyer, created by the Wright brothers, was built with Sitka spruce. Before the Second World War, many warplanes were constructed using Sitka spruce wood. It was also used in building the nose cones of Trident I ballistic missiles.
  • A unique Sitka spruce with golden colored needles, named the Golden Spruce or Kiidk’yaas, grew in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. Unfortunately, the rare specimen was secretly felled in January 1997 by a forest engineer Grant Hadwin. The indigenous Haida people still consider this tree as sacred.
Sitka Spruce Tree

Sitka Spruce Tree

References:

  1. https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/sitkaspruce.htm
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_sitchensis
  3. https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/picsit/all.html
  4. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/tree-species-database/sitka-spruce-ss/
  5. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/42337/2973701

Published on June 2nd 2016 by admin under Spruce.
Article was last reviewed on 5th December 2024.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

88 − 81 =

    • Recent Posts

      • Cedar Tree of Lebanon
      • Eastern Red Cedar
      • Black-backed Woodpecker
      • Eastern Gray Squirrel
      • Bohemian Waxwing
      • Norway Spruce
      • Douglas Squirrel
      • Northern Goshawk
      • Bighorn Sheep
      • Eastern Milk Snake
      • Ovenbird
      • California Redwood
      • Western Terrestrial Garter Snake
      • Foxtail Pine
      • Snow Goose
    • Categories

      • Coniferous Forest Animals
      • Coniferous Trees
        • Cedar
        • Cypress
        • Fir
        • Hemlock
        • Juniper
        • Larch
        • Pine
        • Spruce
        • Yew

© 2025 (Coniferous Forest). All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

  • Privacy Policy