Picea mariana Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.

Tree to 10(–25) m, with a narrow but scarcely spire-like crown, the branches tending to droop; twigs pubescent with crooked or glandular, cylindric hairs; lvs 6–18 mm, radially spreading, straight, often blunt, strongly glaucous, grayish-green; winter buds acute, gray-brown, the lowest scales pubescent and subulate; cones dark purple before maturity, dull grayish-brown when ripe, ovoid, 1.5–3.5 cm, persistent for many years; cone-scales firmly attached to the rigid axis, with thin, brittle, often somewhat pointed, usually dentate or erose margin, often with a bucktooth projection. Usually in Sphagnum bogs, in our range, but sometimes on subalpine slopes, as in the White Mts. of N.H.; Nf. and Lab. to Alas., s. to n. N.J., Pa., Mich., Wis., and B.C.

Cool slopes and bogs. Found on well-drained soils in the north of its range and swamps in the south.Found on a variety of soil types, it grows best in those that are moist and acidic

It has been used to produce spruce beer. The sap and twigs are boiled with molasses or maple sugar and fermented. The gum is used for chewing gum. It is also the source of spruce oil used for flavouring.

Plants seed quickly after fires. Trees are easy to transplant. Often attached branches in contat with soil form roots and these layers can be planted. This forms a clump of trees.