Find out in today's article about the structural features of spruce. How to propagate spruce? The oldest and tallest pine trees. If the topic interests you, continue reading.
Norway spruce (common spruce)- a coniferous plant belonging to the Pine family. Coniferous plants include both trees and shrubs. What unites them general device leaves - in conifers they are needle-shaped and evergreen (perennial), although there are also deciduous representatives, for example, larch. We are used to seeing spruce in forests, but recently the trend of using Norway spruce in decorating yards and creating large-scale landscape compositions. Don't forget about medicinal properties tree, beginning with essential oil, ending cones. Wood is actively used in industrial purposes. If we install on New Year according to the good old tradition.
Features of the structure of spruce:
- evergreen tree;
- Reaches 30-50 m in height;
- The crown is cone-shaped;
- The branches are drooping, multi-tiered;
- The bark is grayish-brown, connected by platinum;
- The leaves are 4-sided needles on pads;
- Life expectancy up to 300 years;
Phytoncides– biologically active substances that are released by plants and kill bacteria – they perfectly purify the air, soothe or tone nervous system depending on the season. Scientists conducted a study on 1 group of volunteers in summer and winter period. People were invited to take a walk around pine forest V different periods, after which the state and mood were assessed. In summer, the smell of spruce perfectly calms, and in winter it tones. Walk through a coniferous forest and see for yourself that strength increases and stress disappears.
Peculiarities of spruce reproduction
Reaches maturity from 20 years. The period of seed production is long and can occur even at 60 years of age. The period depends on the location of the spruce: single trees ripen faster, while closely planted trees take a long time to “decide”. Seeds are formed every year. Has female cones 15 cm long - megastrobiles, with the help of which seeds are stored and further reproduction takes place. Cones form on two-year-old branches. Pollination occurs in May. As autumn approaches, the branches droop. Having survived the winter, in early March, spruce seeds begin to scatter on the crust(dense crust of snow), which is typical for forests.
Spruce is a unique plant that can withstand a small fire. Many coniferous plants are considered forest protectors, and, for example, larch is often planted near buildings - there are many examples when the tree “saved” from fire. Coniferous plants- real long-livers. Although they are given up to 300 years, bristlecone pine grows in California, which, theoretically, can quietly develop up to 5000 years.
Conifers also include:
- Fir;
- Juniper;
- Sequoia (most tall tree in the world);
- Cedar;
- Cypress;
- Sciadopitis;
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Spruce is a tree from the pine family that remains green even in summer. Spruce is recognized as a symbol of the New Year all over the world. This unique tree grows up to 50 meters tall.
Some spruces grow up to 600 years. There are many such specimens, but they have to be protected. Typically, trees of this type only live up to 300 years.
Spruce, photo of spruce on the site and brief characteristics
In the first stages of growth, spruce has stem-type roots. This lasts for the first fifteen years. Then development occurs only superficially, and the main core begins to die off.
At the beginning, only growth stem cells are formed, and after a few years, branches begin to grow. The trunk has round shape and brownish bark, which exfoliates into small plates.
As for the resin content, there is very little of it and it is homogeneous. Her shade white with a slightly golden tint.
Mattly grown branches create a pyramidal tower of a tree. They grow almost perpendicularly. Smaller processes create a tetrahedral branching shape.
Among the varieties of spruce there are those that have bluish and even yellowish tints. The needles do not fall off for about six years, and then they are simply renewed.
Many insects are attracted to the smell of spruce. They literally eat the tree, after which new needles begin to grow.
The new needles look like bristles and are smaller than the others, but over time they will catch up with their predecessors.
The cones growing on the tree are slightly oblong and round, they stretch into a cylindrical shape. The length reaches fifteen centimeters, and the average diameter is four centimeters.
The cone consists of an axis and scales, which are arranged in a circle, and seed scales grow between them. Seed scales bear two ovules, which have a false wing.
Around October, the seeds reach maturity. They then fall off and are carried by the wind. Seed germination lasts for about a week, plus or minus a couple of days.
Spruce varieties
Planting spruce, observing it and other work made it possible to divide the tree into 45 species. These days they grow randomly all over the world, and their height only rarely exceeds fifty meters.
European spruce
The tree is green in all seasons. The height does not exceed 30 meters; only in some cases there are specimens up to fifty meters in height.
The top has a cone shape, and the branches are slightly drooping and spread out in different sides. As for the bark, it is dark gray.
Over time, the bark peels off into thin plates, but remains on the trunk until it dries out.
The tetrahedral needles are located throughout the branch, growing in a spiral. The northwestern part of Europe is rich in dense forests in which this type of spruce grows.
In addition, this type of spruce is found in almost all countries with a suitable climate.
Siberian spruce
The tree reaches thirty meters in height and has a pyramidal cone. Approximately one hundred centimeters in reach, the maximum trunk diameter of this spruce. Spruce needles are slightly smaller than usual and sharper than usual.
The tree grows in Russia, Kazakhstan and a number of other countries with a suitable climate. Many countries protect trees from being cut down and take care of old species.
Eastern Spruce
It differs from the usual one in its slightly larger growth, about five meters taller than the usual spruce. Its cone at the top of the tree is not green, as usual, but grayish in color. The branches of the tree are very dense and heavy.
The bark does not have any special resin, and the color is similar to gray-brown. The tetrahedral needles are slightly rounded at the ends.
This spruce can be easily found in the Caucasus and northern parts of Asia. As a rule, there are pure forests, but there are specimens growing in mixed forests.
Korean spruce
The tree does not stand out for its special height dimensions; it does not exceed 40 meters in height. The trunk is grayish-brown in color and does not exceed a diameter of 80 centimeters. Only the bluish bloom distinguishes the tree into a unique group, otherwise everything is the same as with ordinary spruce.
Pyramidal cap, tetrahedral needles, branches hanging on top of each other, etc. Spruce grows and develops in Eastern countries, such as China, Korea and others. The tree grows in both mixed and pure tracts.
El Ayanskaya
By external signs spruce is similar to European spruce. The spruce needles are sharp and tetrahedral, and the top is pyramidal. The branches hang over one another and are slightly turned up with their tips.
The trunk grows up to forty meters in height, but sometimes a little more. The girth of the tree trunk is no more than a meter, and often less.
The Far East has become a refuge for this species of spruce. The tree grows in a variety of places, both in mixed forests and separately. a small amount units. The color of the tree is perfect for the winter holiday.
Spruce photo
Norway spruce is valued as an important forest-forming species. Widely used in reforestation work and for protective plantings along railways, and also how decorative tree for decorating landscapes. This type spruce is heterogeneous appearance, which is due various types its branches. These types are inherited.
Soft and light spruce wood is used for sawing, and is also a good building material and a valuable raw material for the production of cellulose.
FEATURES OF THE SPECIES
The bark is gray, thin, and in old trees peels off in small scales. The shoots are brown, reddish, bare or sparsely hairy. The buds are pointed, brownish, non-resinous. Seed germination is 60-80%. Retains germination in hermetically sealed glass containers up to 5 years. They can germinate without pre-sowing preparation, but cold stratification (from 2 to 8 weeks) or soaking in water (18-22 hours) increases their germination. Like all other spruce species, it can be propagated by grafting and cuttings. Annual growth in height is 50 cm, width is 15 cm. Up to 10-15 years it grows slowly, then quickly. Tolerates haircuts well. It is recommended to use for hedges in which trees are spaced every 40 cm.
Area In Northern and Central Europe. On the territory of Russia - from the western borders to the Urals.
Dimensions of an adult plant Tree 30-50 m high, crown diameter 6-8 m, trunk diameter up to 1.8 m.
Decorativeness Not all specimens of this species are decorative. Sometimes the crown shape is uneven
Needle shape The needle-shaped tetrahedral needles are 10-35 mm long and 1-1.5 mm thick, with a sharp tip, shiny, dark green, and stay on the shoots for 6-7 years. In autumn, the color of the needles does not change.
Time and form of flowering In May-June, red oval spikelets and red or green female strobili, collected on one axis, appear on the branches
Cones The cones are cylindrical, 10-16 cm long and 3-4 cm wide, reddish-brown, shiny, with large or elongated seed scales. Immature buds are light green or dark purple. The seeds fall out at the end of next winter. Seed production begins at 25-30 years of age.
Soil requirements Loams, sandy loamy light soils, does not tolerate soil compaction, close groundwater, salinity and dry soil, pH = 4.0-5.5.
Attitude to light Very shade-tolerant, may suffer from sunburn in spring.
Resistance to urban conditions Sensitive to smoke, gases and dust, so it is rarely used in urban plantings.
Frost resistance The species is characterized by increased frost resistance (up to -45°C), but is sensitive to spring frosts.
Shelter for the winter Young plants in the first year of planting.
Lifespan Lives up to 250-300 years.
Recently, dwarf (from 0.3 to 1.5 m) forms of Norway spruce have been in demand: "Gregoriana", "Echiniformis", "Clanbrassiliana" and some others. Characteristics These forms have a dense crown, slow growth, short shoots. Dwarf forms Norway spruce is especially attractive when landscaping small limited spaces: rocky gardens, alpine slides etc. All decorative forms must be propagated by grafting.
(lat. Pícea) - a genus of plants of the Pine family (Pináceae), according to its prevalence among coniferous trees takes second place after pine. Spruce lives for 250-300 years; there are trees up to 500-600 years old. In the USA (Colorado), a long-living spruce grows - the Engelmann spruce, whose age is 852 years.
Monoecious trees with a pyramidal crown, whorled branching and interwhorled shoots. The trunk is full-wood, up to 40-50 m high, in some species - up to 80-90 m, with a diameter at the butt up to 1-2 m, the bark is red-brown or gray, flaking with thin scales; young branches are brown or reddish, glabrous or slightly drooping, with strongly protruding leaf marks, buds are ovoid-conical, pointed, brownish, non-resinous. The needles are hard, prickly, tetrahedral, flat in the lower part of the crown (shadow needles), and do not fall off for 6 - 9 years.
Spruce forests (spruce forests) are evergreen dark coniferous forests with a predominance of spruce in the tree layer. They are among the naturally progressive edificators that can invade other phytocenoses and even displace them. Spruce forests grow in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, occupying a significant part of the territory of Europe, Asia and North America.
In Russia they are distributed from the western to the eastern borders. They shape the appearance of the landscape of the taiga zone. The total area of spruce forests in Russia is about 70 million hectares with a timber reserve of over 10 billion m3. Spruce forests are in fourth place in terms of area after larch, pine and birch forests. In spruce forests, both pure stands and those mixed with deciduous and coniferous species are formed.
Spruce wood
Spruce is a coreless mature wood species. The spruce wood is white, with a slight yellowish tint, and low in resin. Engelmann spruce has darker wood - yellowish-brown. Resinous passages are few and small. Spruce wood has a uniform structure with annual layers clearly visible in all sections, disturbed by numerous knots.
Spruce is a species with low uniform density and a sharp difference in the structure of early and late wood of annual layers. The number of annual layers per 1 cm of cross section and the percentage of late wood depend on both the species and the place of its growth. So, for example, for common spruce (European) in the north of the European part of Russia, the number of annual layers is 12.1, and the percentage of late wood is 21, for Siberian spruce (Western Siberia) - 6.5 and 25, respectively, for eastern Siberia - 9 and 25.
The microroughness remaining after treating the surface of spruce wood is 8-60 microns, which is significantly lower than that of hardwood. Freshly cut spruce wood has a moisture content of about 110%. Maximum humidity during water absorption is 212%.
Hydraulic conductivity indicators are an important characteristic for choosing a wood drying mode; the intensity of the isothermal transfer of bound water depends on them. The values of the hydraulic conductivity coefficient (Dx1010 m2/s) for spruce are presented in the table.
These values differ little from those of pine, but are 1.5 - 1.8 times higher than those of larch and hard-leaved species. Spruce, like pine, is a low-drying species. The homogeneous structure of the wood and long fibers make spruce less prone to warping and cracking during the drying process (compared to pine).
Spruce is a low-density species. The average density of spruce wood at standard humidity (12%) is 445 kg/m3, absolutely dry - 420 kg/m3, base density - 365 kg/m3.
The permeability of liquids and gases along the fibers of spruce is slightly higher (15-20%) than that of pine, but the difference between gas permeability in the radial and tangential directions in spruce is the largest (in the radial direction it is 10 times greater than in the radial direction; in pine - 2-5 times).
In terms of strength properties, spruce wood is somewhat inferior to pine. In terms of long-term resistance to deformation, it is practically not inferior to pine, as well as in another indicator - the ability to hold fasteners. Spruce wood bends somewhat better than pine wood.
In terms of resistance to decay (biological damage), among domestic species, spruce is classified as a medium-resistant species (it is noticeably inferior to pine heartwood); according to the European standard EN 350 - 2:1994, spruce is classified as a low-resistant species (pine is classified as moderately resistant).
The generally good machinability of spruce wood by cutting is significantly hampered by numerous knots, the hardness of which is often so great that it causes chipping of the blades of carbide tools.
Application of spruce wood
Spruce is a tree that is exceptional in its properties. One of these properties is musicality. Since ancient times, musical instruments, including stringed ones, have been made from spruce. Novgorod gusli medieval Rus' most often made from spruce.
The tops of violins, cellos, and guitars have long been made from resonant spruce, which provides the instruments with beautiful sound. She seems to hold the sound within herself. There are special requirements for musical wood: not have knots, curls, tilts or other defects. The annual layers should be the same width, and in a radial section straight and parallel.
Musical instruments made from spruce have an amazing sound because the fibers in the wood are distributed very evenly (such wood is called resonant wood). Violins by Italian makers, including Amati and Stradivarius, are made from spruce.
Looking for good stuff craftsmen and restorers musical instruments They find wood when dismantling old houses, which, over decades of a stable microclimate, acquires truly wonderful musical properties. The fact is that with gradual drying in the capillaries of the resin ducts of the wood, microscopic resonance chambers are formed, and it seems to acquire a voice.
The 19th century French explorer Savard calculated the speed of sound in spruce wood. It turned out that it is 15-16 times greater than the speed of sound in air. There have been many attempts to replace spruce wood with wood from other species, but none of them have been successful. Experts believe that it is unlikely that it will soon be possible to find a material whose acoustic properties will be similar to resonant spruce.
Spruce wood is difficult to process due to the great hardness of the knots, but in some areas huts were built entirely from spruce. They believed that in such a hut one could breathe easily, there was even a saying: “A hut is a spruce tree, but the heart is healthy.”
Spruce wood is soft, light, not very durable, used as construction material(boards, beams), for small crafts, for processing into wood pulp.
Spruce is used for the production of wood chemical products - paper and cardboard, cellulose, turpentine, rosin, tar, wood vinegar, methyl alcohol. From pine needles and wood, volatile fractions of different composition are isolated, consisting mainly of terpenoids - the so-called. essential oils, their main component is pinene.
It is used in ornamental gardening and park construction. Notable for its neatness and elegance of the crown, slender trunk, and shade tolerance. Hedge spruce is very dense and almost impenetrable. There are many garden forms and cultivars. Spruce is often used to create windbreaks, especially along roads. The seeds serve as food for forest birds (woodpeckers, crossbills) and rodents (mouse, squirrel). Spruce bark is used as a leather tanning agent. The needles are often used to prepare pine-vitamin flour for livestock feed.
Spruce (lat. Picea) is an evergreen coniferous tree, a symbol of the New Year. Belongs to the pine order, pine family, spruce genus. The height of a spruce can reach 50 meters, and the lifespan of a tree can be 600 years, although usually a tree lives up to 250-300 years.
Spruce – description, appearance, photo.
U young tree during the first 15 years of growth root system has a core structure, but then it develops as a superficial one, since as it matures the main root dies off. In the first years of its life, the spruce grows upward and practically does not produce lateral branches. The straight trunk of the spruce has a round shape and gray bark, exfoliating into thin plates. Spruce wood low-resinous and homogeneous, white with a light golden tint.
The pyramidal or cone-shaped crown of the spruce is composed of whorled branches growing almost perpendicular to the trunk. Short spruce needles located on the branches in a spiral pattern and has a tetrahedral or flat shape. The color of the needles is usually green, blue, yellowish or gray. The needles remain viable for 6 years, and the fallen ones are renewed annually. Some insects are partial to spruce needles (for example, nun butterflies) and eat the needles so much that brush shoots are formed on damaged spruce branches - very short and hard needles that look like brushes.
Spruce cones have a slightly pointed, slightly elongated cylindrical shape. They can reach a length of 15 cm and have a diameter of at least 4 cm. The spruce cone is an axis, and around it grows many covering scales, in the axils of which the seed scales are located. On the upper part of the seed scales, 2 ovules are formed, endowed with a false wing. Spruce seeds ripen in October, after which the seeds are dispersed by the wind and remain viable for 8-10 years.
Types of fir trees, names and photos.
Today, more than 45 species of spruce trees have been studied, growing in natural conditions and having a trunk height from 30 cm to 50 m, different structure crowns and various colors of needles. Among all the representatives of this genus, the most famous are the following varieties:
- European (ordinary) spruce (lat. Picea abies). An evergreen coniferous tree, the average height of which is 30 m, but there are specimens up to 50 meters in height. The crown of the spruce is cone-shaped, the branches are whorled, drooping or prostrate, the bark of the trunk is dark gray in color, and with age it begins to peel off in thin plates. Spruce needles are tetrahedral, arranged in a spiral on spruce paws. Norway spruce forms huge forests in northeastern Europe, is found in the mountainous regions of the Alps and Carpathians, in the Pyrenees and the Balkan Peninsula, in North America and middle lane Russia and even in the Siberian taiga.
- Siberian spruce (lat. Picea obovata). A tall tree, up to 30 meters in height, with a pyramidal crown. The girth diameter of the Siberian spruce trunk can exceed 70-80 cm. The needles of the Siberian spruce are somewhat shorter than those of the common spruce and more prickly. Siberian spruce grows in the forests of northern Europe, Kazakhstan and China, the Scandinavian Peninsula and Mongolia, the Urals and the Magadan region.
- Eastern spruce (lat. Picea orientalis). The height of the tree varies from 32 to 55 meters, the crown is conical in shape, with densely spaced branches. The bark of the spruce trunk is low-resinous, gray-brown in color, and scaly. The needles are shiny, slightly flattened, tetrahedral, with a slightly rounded tip. Oriental spruce is widespread in the forests of the Caucasus and the northern territories of Asia, forming pure tracts there, or found in mixed forests.
- Korean spruce (lat. Picea koraiensis). A rather tall coniferous tree, reaching 30-40 m in height, with a greyish-brown bark-colored trunk, girth up to 75-80 cm. The crown of this spruce species is pyramidal, drooping branches, pubescent with resinous tetrahedral, slightly blunt needles with a bluish bloom. Under natural conditions, Korean spruce grows in the regions of the Far East, China, the Primorsky Territory and Amur region, and North Korea.
- Ayan spruce (small-seeded, Hokkaido) (lat. Picea jezoensis). Externally, this type of spruce is very similar to European spruce. The pyramidal crown of the Ayan spruce has bright green, almost non-resinous needles with a sharp tip, the trunk height is usually 30-40 meters, occasionally up to 50 m, the girth of the trunk reaches a meter, and sometimes more. Spruce grows in the Far East region, in Japan and China, on Sakhalin and the Kamchatka Territory, in Korea and the Amur region, in the Kuril Islands, along the coast Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sikhote-Alin mountains.
- Tian – Shan spruce (lat. Picea schrenkiana subsp. tianschanica). Spruce trees of this species often reach a height of 60 m, and the diameter of the trunk is 1.7-2 meters. The crown of the Tien Shan spruce is cylindrical, less often pyramidal in shape. The needles are diamond-shaped, straight, or slightly curved. Distinctive feature– the presence of anchor roots that are able to bend and cling tightly to stones or rocky ledges. Spruce grows in areas Central Asia, widespread in the Tien Shan mountains, especially common in Kazakhstan and the mountainous regions of Kyrgyzstan.
- Spruce Glen (lat. Picea glehnii). Coniferous tree with a very dense, cone-shaped crown. The trunk height is from 17 to 30 meters, the diameter varies from 60 to 75 cm. The bark is covered with scale plates and has a beautiful chocolate hue. The long tetrahedral needles are slightly curved, sharp in young trees and slightly blunt in mature specimens. The needles are dark green, with a bluish bloom, and have a tart spruce aroma. Glen spruce grows in Japan, in the southern regions of Sakhalin, in the south of the Kuril Islands.
- Canadian spruce (gray spruce, white spruce) (lat. Picea glauca). A slender evergreen tree, most often not exceeding 15-20 meters in height, the trunk diameter of the Canadian spruce is no more than 1 meter in diameter. The bark on the trunk is quite thin, covered with scales. The crown is narrowly conical in young specimens, and in adult spruce trees it takes on the shape of a cylinder. The spruce needles are long (up to 2.5 cm), blue-green in color, and diamond-shaped in cross-section. Canadian spruce grows in the states of North America, often found in Alaska, Michigan, and South Dakota.
- Red spruce (lat. Picea rubens). An evergreen tree, 20 to 40 meters high, but bad conditions growth can have a height of only 4-6 meters. The diameter of the red spruce trunk rarely exceeds 1 meter, but is usually 50-60 centimeters. The crown is cone-shaped, significantly expanding towards the base of the trunk. The needles are quite long - 12-15mm, practically do not prick, as they have a rounded tip. This type of spruce is common in England and Canada, grows in the Appalachian mountains and in Scotland, found almost along the entire Atlantic coast.
- Serbian spruce (lat. Picea omorika). An evergreen representative of coniferous trees, with a height of 20 to 35 meters, Serbian spruce trees are very rarely found, reaching a height of 40 meters. The crown of the spruce is pyramidal, but narrow, and closer to columnar in shape. The branches are short, sparse, slightly raised upward. The spruce needles are green, shiny, with a slightly bluish tint, slightly flattened on top and bottom. This type of spruce is very rare: in natural environment grows only in Western Serbia and Eastern Bosnia.
- Blue spruce, she's the same prickly spruce(lat. Picea pungens)- a very popular type of spruce, often used as ornamental plant. Blue spruce can grow up to 46 meters in height, although the average tree height is 25-30 m, and the trunk diameter is up to 1.5 m. The crown of young spruce trees has a narrow conical shape, and with age it turns into cylindrical. The needles, 1.5-3 cm long, come in different shades - from grayish-green to bright blue. Spruce cones, 6-11 cm long, can be reddish or purple, turning light brown when ripe. Blue spruce grows in western North America (from Idaho to New Mexico), where it is widespread in moist soils along the banks of mountain rivers and streams.
Dwarf spruce, varieties and types, names and photos.
Among the huge variety of spruce species and varieties, dwarf spruce trees are especially popular - amazing elements landscape design and a wonderful decoration for every garden. Dwarf spruce is durable, unpretentious, and easy to care for. These miniature trees amaze with the splendor of their shapes and colors and fit perfectly into rock gardens, rockeries, flower beds, and Japanese gardens. Here are some types of dwarf spruce trees:
Dwarf spruce Nidiformis- one of the forms of common spruce, a dense nest-like shrub with light green needles, grows up to 40 cm in height and no more than 1 m in width.
The result of the spruce mutation ordinary variety Acrocona - unusual plant uneven in shape, 30-100 cm high and 50 cm in diameter. Small pink cones that form on shoots of different lengths look especially picturesque.
Dwarf blue spruce Glauka Globoza (Glauca Globosa)- one of the popular types of blue spruce with a dense, wide-conical crown and light blue crescent-shaped needles. By the age of 10, the tree grows up to 3 m in height and gradually becomes almost round.
A very decorative conifer with a symmetrical pyramidal crown and two-color needles: the needles are dark green above and light blue below. The tree grows up to 3-3.5 m in height, and the diameter of the crown at the base is 2.5 m.
Dwarf spruce Bialobok (Bialobok)- a unique variety of spruce of Polish selection with blue, silver and golden shades of needles. The Christmas tree becomes especially decorative in the spring, when young shoots of a whitish-cream color appear against the background of mature dark green needles. The height of a dwarf spruce is no more than 2 meters.
