Spruce, pine, or fir: How can you tell? Story and photos by Micheal Rosen
Black spruce.
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f we were to be more honest on the choice of tree for our flag, it would not have been the mighty maple but based on sheer abundance it would have been the black spruce (Picea mariana). Majestic it ain’t but it sure would have saved me explaining for much of my career to my western brothers and sisters that “…there is actually a species of maple that does grow in every province in Canada….” True story: when Québec needed an arboreal emblem in the 1980s they gravitated towards the beloved maple. Unfortunately, il a été pris par les fédérales (it was taken by the federal government). The Minister of Natural Resources asked the chief forester what the most common tree in Québec was, to which the forester replied, “Why, c’est l’épinette noir (black spruce) M. le Ministre.” So off localgardener.net
Alberta dwarf white spruce.
they went to the Abitibi region to look at les épinettes noirs. One glance at its skinny trunk, flaky bark and ubiquitous ball on top, and the Minister made an instantaneous decision: no way would this ugly tree represent Québec. And so, Québec went ahead and adopted the yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), a noble hardwood with interesting characteristics but with much less significance for the province. Because most Canadians live in the south in a landscape dominated by deciduous trees (also known as hardwoods or leafy trees) we do not realize how much of Canada is conifer. Conifers (or evergreens) are by far the predominant tree in Canada. Of the 348 million hectares of forest in Canada (9 percent of the world’s forest) 236 million hectares (or 68 Issue 1
percent) is conifers with another 55 million mixed wood, which can have a large component of conifer as well. We are indeed an evergreen nation. Conifers are more scientifically known as gymnosperms (which means naked seed) having an exposed seed (or ovule) unlike angiosperms (flowering plants, deciduous) whose seeds are covered by a fruit (or ovaries). In the case of conifers, a male cone produces pollen which in turn can fertilize a female cone which then produces seeds. You can identify a tree from its cone, but thankfully there are other ways to distinguish conifers as well. Personally, I advocate the “roll and grab test” of the needles as a first cut in distinguishing all conifers. Spruce When you pick a spruce needle, it is always singularly attached to the stem 2021 • 23
