Plant Family: Pinaceae
Growth Form: Small to medium-sized tree with short branches and a spire-like form.
Leaves: Short green needles 1 – 2 cm long have rounded tips that are not prickly.
Bark: Dark gray with scales; the twigs are obviously hairy (use a lens).
Cones: Ovoid, short, 2 – 3 cm long, the brittle scales have toothed (ragged) edges, unlike the smooth-edged scales on the cones of other spruces. The cones persist on the branches for more than one year.
Habitat: Black Spruce does best along swamp edges, in bogs, and other poorly drained soils, but will also inhabit drier sites on cool mountain slopes.
Range: Transcontinental as far north as the tree line. In New England it ranges further south than White Spruce, into northern Connecticut and northwest Rhode Island.
Similar Species: Red and White Spruce have longer cones with smooth scale edges, and do not tolerate saturated soils as this species does.
Comments: Black Spruce stands are susceptible to fire, but the seeds open with heat, and the subsequent replacement stands are usually even-aged. Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) is a tiny parasitic plant that infects the branches of several conifer species, especially Black Spruce; witches’ brooms are bushy aggregations of weakened stems that betray the presence of the parasite. Black Spruce is the provincial tree of Newfoundland and Labrador.
