PINACEAE - - Pine Family

Picea rubens Sargent — Red Spruce, He Balsam

Red Spruce, He Balsam (Picea rubens) - Tree often becoming 30 m. tall, the bark rough; twigs stout, stiff, pubescent as are usually the sterigmata; leaves solitary, ascending or erect, narrow, angled or terete, leaving sterigmata when falling, curved, 8—12 mm. long, deep-green; pollen-sacs opening length-wise. Ovulate ament with inconspicuous bracts; cone drooping, ellipsoid or ovoid, 2.5—4 cm. long.

Habitat:

Common to dominant in spruce and spruce-fir forests at high elevations, scattered in northern hardwood forests, heath balds, boulderfield forests, ridges, and rarely coves, also in bogs or swampy forests at lower elevations (down to about 1000 m), ranging in moisture tolerance from dry ridges (though these are often fog-bathed) to saturated peats, and sometimes planted and naturalized. It, along with Abies fraseri (Fraser Fir) has naturalized on Brasstown Bald, Ga. where planted.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Picea rubens (Red Spruce, He Balsam)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].