The Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a coniferous tree of the spruces (Picea) in that the (Pinaceae). It was designated after the city Sitka in Alaska.

Spreading

The Sitka spruce seems to north California at the west coast of North America of the island Kodiak in Alaska until. It is a tree of the moderate rain forest, which is formed by the upward gradient rain at the Rocky Mountains along the Pacific coast. At the same time the Sitka spruce is sea salt tolerant, so that one finds it direct at the sea. Only sometimes the coastal strip of their occurrence is often not broader than 30 km and possesses width of up to 210 km. The circulation area does not possess a length of approximately 2500 km in that it normally on heights over 300m NN ascends. The highest occurrence is however with 910 m NN in then Alaska at the forest border.

Unfortunately there are only few unaffected existence of old Sitka Fichten.Der Pacific Rim national park on Vancouver Iceland (British Colombia) and the Olympic park in the US Federal State Washington is national some the last accessible places, at which one can admire these majestic tree giants.

The Sitkafichte is cultivated to the small extent also in Central Europe. This happened predominantly due to the allegedly small requirements for location economically little successfully and - from today's viewpoint - ecologically completely indiskutabel on anmoorigen locations. On better locations it shows however an impressing mass achievement, which lets the assumption of a part of the often very numerously arising nature taper ratio appear discussable as mixing tree species at least.

Description

The Sitka spruce reaches a stature height of 50 to 70 m, in rare cases also to 95 m, with a master diameter of up to 5 m and is the largest of all kinds of spruce thereby.

The crust of young trees is dark grey and soon abschuppend; with increasing age of the tree it becomes reddish with rough jumping off sheds.

The crown is narrowly conical; also at high trees the point tapers itself still evenly conically. At the trunk appear often numerous would land on water-rub.

The branches are first white, later brightly leather yellow. The bud is blunt egg-shaped and light brown. The needles are 2 to 3 cm long, hard and sharply intensified; they are above shine green freshly and exhibit on the lower surface two narrow white volumes. The needles stand for clever ELT radially, later however predominantly at the recent impulse on the lower surface; the needles on the top side show forward.

The male taps are lightyellow and blunt egg-shaped; the young female taps are light red. After dusting become long the taps 5 to 8 cm, are briefly cylindrically lightgreen with blunt end and first in the summer. Ripe taps are nearly white with thin, paper-like sheds.

Use

The wood of the Sitka spruce is somewhat more reddish than other spruces, and finds (with appropriate quality) among other things than Klangholz in the music instrument making (guitars) Verwendung.Die recent branches contains Vitamin C; the resin can be used as chewing rubber. Indians converted root fibers to baskets.

Taxonomy

The official botanische name is

• Picea sitchensis (Bongard) 1855

Synonymous ones are:

• Pinus sitchensis Bongard 1832
• Abies falcata Rafinesque
• Abies menziesii (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindley 1835, emergency Mirbel 1825
  • Mirbel suggested this names 1825 for the douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii.
• Picea falcata (Rafinesque) Suringar
• Picea menziesii (Douglas ex D. Don)
• Pinus menziesii Douglas ex D. Don (Taylor 1993)

In its northern circulation area the Sitka spruce with the white spruce (Picea glauca) hybridizes, whereby Picea develops lutzii.

See also: Sitkafichtenlaus

Literature

• Pure hard Schober: The Sitka spruce. A biological ertragskundliche investigation. Series of publications of the Forstlichen faculty of the University of Goettingen and reports of the Forstlichen of Lower Saxony laboratory, volume 24/25. Sour countries, Frankfurt/Main 1962

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