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Picea sitchensis, the Sitka spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing up to 80 m tall,^[1] and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter^{[citation needed]}. It is by far the largest species of spruce; and the fifth largest conifer in the world (behind giant sequoia, coast redwood, kauri and western redcedar);^[2] and the third tallest conifer species (after coast redwood and coast Douglas-fir). The Sitka spruce is one of the few species documented to reach 300 feet in height.^[3] It acquires its name from the community of Sitka, Alaska.

Contents [hide] 1 Description 1.1 Size 1.2 Age 1.3 Root system 1.4 Fire danger 2 Taxonomy 3 Distribution and habitat 4 Uses 5 Culture 6 Chemistry 7 See also 8 References and external links

[edit]Description

The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5–20 cm across. The crown is broad conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees; old trees may have no branches in the lowest 30–40 m. The shoots are very pale buff-brown, almost white, and glabrous (hairless) but with prominent pulvini. The leaves are stiff, sharp and needle-like, 15–25 mm long, flattened in cross-section, dark glaucous blue-green above with two or three thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two dense bands of stomata.

The cones are pendulous, slender cylindrical, 6–10 cm long ^[4] and 2 cm broad when closed, opening to 3 cm broad. They have thin, flexible scales 15–20 mm long; the bracts just above the scales are the longest of any spruce, occasionally just exserted and visible on the closed cones. They are green or reddish,