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The white spruce (Picea glauca) belongs to Pinaceae (the Pine family). It is a tall evergreen tree that is native to North America; from central Alaska all through the east, across southern and central Canada to the northern United States. This tree grows in boreal forests, and normally to 15 to 30 m in height. The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5 to 10 cm across. The crown is narrow-conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees. The leaves are needle-like, 12 to 20 mm long, rhombic in cross-section, glaucous blue-green above with several thin lines of stomata, and blue-white below with two broad bands of stomata. The cones are pendulous, slender, cylindrical, 3 to 7 cm long and 1.5 cm wide when closed. They are green or reddish, maturing to pale brown 4 to 8 months after pollination. The photo shows a dwarf variety 'Conica' with a final tree height of about 3 m.
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