Picea sitchensis

Picea sitchensis, commonly known as Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, needled evergreen tree that can grow up to 80 meters tall and 500 cm in diameter at breast height. It has a straight trunk from a buttressed base and an open, conical crown of horizontal branches. The bark is grey, smooth, thin, and purplish-brown with scaly plates as the tree matures. The needles are stiff, 15-25 mm long, on all sides of the stem but parted on the underside of horizontal shoots, 4-sided but somewhat flattened, and glossy green above and silvery-white below due to white stomatal lines on both lower surfaces. The cones are cylindrical-oblong, 6-10 cm long. Sitka spruce is native to the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California, sometimes very near the ocean. It prefers a moist to wet, sandy soil and cool, moist air, such as in coastal fog belts. It is found in riparian, saltwater, rocky, and forested areas. Sitka spruce is a valuable food source and nesting and roosting site for many birds and small mammals.