October 20, 2023https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/188316475
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/188316475
The debate about the species of this tree began for me last January. I took an Alaskan Biology course where we used iNaturalist similarly to how we do in this class. The difference was that only our teacher and members of the iNaturalist community gave input. When I posted this observation, iNaturalist and my teacher both identified it as a White Spruce, but I strongly believe it is a Black Spruce.
Black Spruce Picea mariana is an evergreen tree with leaves of needles, grayish bark, and yellow wood. It is found in flat areas, marshes and in colder, wet climates (Alaska Trees and Shrubs). According to Alaska Trees and Shrubs this tree is not used much because of its smaller size but is used for Christmas trees. This commonly known fact is why I believe it is a Black Spruce. Every year since I was a little girl, my family makes a 78-mile trek to a location known as Council, Ak to picnic and chop down a Christmas tree.
White Spruce Picea glauca is also an evergreen tree but much larger than the Black Spruce. The needles and cones are slightly bigger than that of the Black Spruce as well. These evergreens are more useful than the Black Spruce, they are used for log cabins and bridge construction (Alaska Trees and Shrubs).
Council is the border of the boreal forest and arctic tundra biomes, where the spruces are located. According to Alaska Trees and Shrubs both trees are said to be located in the area I visited so I supposed it could be either. I believe because of the scraggly appearance of tree, that they are much smaller than the spruces I see in Anchorage and that the needs and cones also appear small, that it is a Black Spruce.
Works Cited
Viereck, Leslie A., et al. Alaska Trees and Shrubs. University of Alaska Press, 2006. Accessed 20 OCT, 2023
評論
Hi Amy;
I have taken the same course and enjoyed it immensely. I have never seen a black or white spruce, but I remember learning about spruces and how the pinecone was the primary way to decipher this tree. If I remember the black spruce had the smallest cones of all the spruces. I thought the white spruce was cone-shaped, and the black spruce was scraggly, as you have shown. Black spruce is not as tall as white spruce, and their bark color is different. What a great debate. I love this kind of learning situation. For example, I had the same problem with blueberries and huckleberries because there was no vegetation on the plant to identify the difference between the two. I assumed because the branches in spring turned red, they were huckleberries. The professor taught out of Sitka, so she went out and picked both berry branches and taught me the difference. Blueberries branches are round, and huckleberry branches are cubed. It was evident once I saw the difference. You live there, so you must know. The picture of the tree next to the building shows a very scraggly tree, and I would say it's a black spruce, with my understanding (which is negligible). Someday, I will see that part of Alaska and the black and white spruce forests.
Gayleen
As I see this through the lens of studying AK trees and shrubs in Biology this semester, I genuinely appreciate your in-depth dive into the topic. The distinctions you made between the Black Spruce and the White Spruce were insightful, particularly the emphasis on habitat, physical appearance, and usage.
It's entirely possible that your personal connection to the Christmas tree ritual has provided you with a unique lens, enabling you to notice nuances that others might overlook. The geographic detail of Council, AK being at the intersection of the boreal forest and arctic tundra biomes does add an interesting wrinkle to the identification puzzle.
Your description of the tree’s scraggly appearance, its size relative to spruces in Anchorage, and the dimensions of its needles and cones, indeed make a compelling argument for it being a Black Spruce. That said, tree identification can often be a complex dance between environmental context, individual tree variability, and interpretative differences and drives me NUTS in Biology!!
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