Picea abies, the Norway spruce, Norway fir or European spruce,
It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the longest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very closely related to the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), which replaces it east of the Ural Mountains, and with which it hybridises freely. The Norway spruce has a wide distribution, being planted for its wood, and is the species used as a Christmas tree in several countries around the world. It was the first gymnosperm to have its genome sequenced. The Latin specific epithet abies means "like
Abies, Fir tree".
Description
thumb|upright|left|An 1885 illustration of P. abies, showing the cones and leaves.
thumb|upright|Young female cone
Norway spruce is a large, fast-growing evergreen coniferous tree growing tall and with a trunk diameter of 1 to 1.5 m. It can grow fast when young, up to 1 m per year for the first 25 years under good conditions, but becomes slower once over tall. 12–14 mm long, quadrangular in cross-section and dark green on all four sides with inconspicuous stomatal lines. The seed cones are 9–17 cm long (the longest of any spruce) and have bluntly to sharply triangular-pointed scale tips. They are green or reddish, maturing brown 5–7 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 4–5 mm long, with a pale brown 15 mm wing.
Range and ecology
The Norway spruce grows throughout Europe from Norway in the northwest and Poland eastward, and also in the mountains of central Europe, southwest to the western end of the Alps, and southeast in the Carpathians and Balkans to the extreme north of Greece. The northern limit is in the arctic, just north of 70° N in Norway. Its eastern limit in Russia is hard to define owing to extensive hybridisation and intergradation with the Siberian spruce but is usually given as the Ural Mountains. However trees showing some Siberian spruce characters extend as far west as much of northern Finland, with a few records in northeast Norway. The hybrid is known as Picea × fennica (or P. abies subsp. fennica, if the two taxa are considered subspecies), and can be distinguished by a tendency to have hairy shoots and cones with smoothly rounded scales.
In North America Norway spruce is widely planted, specifically in the Northeastern, Pacific Coast, and Rocky Mountain states, as well as in southeastern Canada. It is naturalised in some parts of North America. Naturalised populations occur from Connecticut to Michigan, and probably elsewhere.
Seed production begins when the tree is in its fourth decade and total lifespan is up to 300 years in its natural range in Europe. Introduced Norway spruces in the British Isles and North America have a much shorter life expectancy. As the tree ages, its crown thins out and lower branches die off.
In the northern US and Canada, Norway spruce is reported as invasive in some locations; however it does not pose a problem in Zone 6 and up as the seeds have a significantly reduced germination rate in areas with hot, humid summers.
The Norway spruce tolerates acidic soils well but does not do well on dry or deficient soils. From 1928 until the 1960s it was planted on surface mine spoils in Indiana. The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
- 'Acrocona' – tall and broad
- 'Clanbrassiliana' – tall by broad
- 'Inversa' – tall by broad
- 'Little Gem' – tall and broad
- 'Nidiformis' – tall by broad<gallery>
File:Picea abies 'Inversa'.jpg|Picea abies 'Inversa'
File:Picea abies 'Little Gem' kz04.jpg|Picea abies 'Little Gem'
File:Picea abies 'Aleksandra Fastigiata' Świerk pospolity 2023-04-30 03.jpg|Picea abies 'Aleksandra Fastigiata'
File:Picea abies 'Acrocona' 02.jpg|Picea abies 'Acrocona' 02
File:Picea abies 'Virgata' - Baum.jpg|Picea abies 'Virgata'
</gallery>
Uses
The Norway spruce is used in forestry for (softwood) timber, and paper production.<gallery mode="packed">
File:Norway spruce (Picea abies) trunk cross section.png|Picea abies trunk cross section
File:Picea abies wood texture.jpg|Picea abies trunk cross section close-up
</gallery>
The Norwegian company Borregaard produces the synthetic substitute for natural vanilla Vanillin using the Norwegian spruce. They are currently the only company to produce wood based vanillin and is claimed by the company to be preferred by their customers due to, among other reasons, its much lower carbon footprint than petrochemically synthesised vanillin.
It is esteemed as a source of tonewood by stringed-instrument makers, and is commonly used for violins. One form of the tree called (Hazel-spruce) grows in the European Alps and has been recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. This form was used by Stradivarius for instruments.
As food
The tree is the source of spruce beer, which was once used to prevent and even cure scurvy.
Norway spruce shoot tips have been used in traditional Austrian and Finnish medicine internally (as syrup or tea) and externally (as baths, for inhalation, as ointments, as resin application or as tea) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract and infections.
During the production of Mont d'Or cheese it is wrapped in a "sangle" made from the cambium of a Norway spruce (French: ') for about two weeks at least, which gives the cheese a unique flavour.
In Finland, Norway spruce tips (Finnish: kuusenkerkkä) are used as a spice, for example, in syrup, herbal tea, alcohol, smoothies, salt, and desserts. Spruce tip syrup is also used as a cold medicine.
Longevity
A press release from Umeå University says that a Norway spruce clone named Old Tjikko, carbon dated as 9,550 years old, is the "oldest living tree". The oldest individual specimen of Norway spruce discovered by tree ring dating found in 2012 in a nature reserve of Buskerud County, Norway, was found to be 532 years old.
However, Pando, a stand of 47,000 quaking aspen clones, is estimated to be between 14,000 and one million years old.
The stress is on the difference between the singular "oldest tree" and the multiple "oldest trees", and between "oldest clone" and "oldest non-clone". Old Tjikko is one of a series of genetically identical clones growing from a root system, one part of which is estimated to be 9,550 years old based on carbon dating. The oldest known individual tree (that has not taken advantage of vegetative cloning) is a Great Basin bristlecone pine over 5,000 years old (germination in 3051 BC).
Genetics
The genome of Picea abies was sequenced in 2013, the first gymnosperm genome to be completely sequenced.
Chemistry
p-Hydroxybenzoic acid glucoside, picein, piceatannol and its glucoside (astringin), isorhapontin (the isorhapontigenin glucoside), catechin and ferulic acid are phenolic compounds found in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots of Norway spruces.
Synonyms
Picea abies (L.) H. Karst is the accepted name of this species. More than 150 synonyms of Picea abies have been published.
External links
- Spruce Genome Project at Congenie.org
- Picea abies - distribution map, genetic conservation units and related resources. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN)