The Spruce Tree

Spruce is a Polish name, "z Prus", that means "from Prussia", and is a specie of tree of the Genus Picea, that can be found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the earth. Genus Picea is a genus of about 35 species of coniferous trees in the Family Pinaceae. Spruce trees are very large when they are mature; they can grow up to 20-60 meters. The difference between this type of tree and all the others is their conical form and whorled branches. This type of tree can be found especially in the northeast Europe, in Poland and Norway, the mountains of the central Europe, in the Alps, the southeast of the Carpathians and Balkans. The Spruce family is very numerous and can be classified after their leaves and scales; here are some of the species: Norway, Dragon, Meyer's, Korean, Koyama's, Serbian, Sikkim, Balfour's, Glehn's, but still these are just a few of them, that can be found all over the world.

Spruce can be used in many ways, but probably the most important role of it, is in the manufacture of the paper, been the best type of wood for the process of producing paper, it's easier to work with it, having long wood fibers that can bind together making the paper stronger. They could also be used in ornamental ways, been admired for their symmetrical narrow-conic growth and of course their evergreen color, it also has an important role in construction work, but let's not forget their uses in wooden aircraft and stringed musical instruments including guitars, mandolins, cellos, and violins. For beer fans we have good news, the essential oils or the leaves and branches can be used to brew beer.

Most people probably don't know that Spruce is the Christmas tree that they buy every year. One of the most important type of Spruce is the white one, it has unique feature, it's very large, has a narrow crown, it can be easily blown over because of it rooted shallow and also his twigs have no hairs. It produces two types of cones; seed cones witch are light brown, purplish with scales that are smooth and open when they are dry, and the other type of cone is the pollen cone, with a pale red color.

In survival conditions you can definitely put your trust in Spruce, thanks to the high surplus of vitamin C, it could be directly ingested or you can boil it into a tea or in means of hydrations, you can again base on it because water is also stored in Spruces.

The most widely planted spruces is the Norway specie, witch is mostly used in the production of paper, forestry for timber, and because of its beauty as an ornamental tree, in gardens and parks. Some say that the Norway Spruce has the Siberian as a sub specie, but they are very distinct, the Norway has cones of 9-17 cm long unlike the Siberian witch are 5-10 cm, the scales of the Norway have triangular-pointed tips, but the Siberian Spruce has smoothly rounded scales.

The White Spruce can grow almost everywhere, but it's mostly found through the interior of British Columbia.