Spruce, pine, or fir: How can you tell?

Story and photos by Micheal Rosen

If we were to be more honest on the choice of tree for our flag, it would not have been the mighty maple but based on sheer abundance it would have been the black spruce (Picea mariana). Majestic it ain’t but it sure would have saved me explaining for much of my career to my western brothers and sisters that “…there is actually a species of maple that does grow in every province in Canada….”

True story: when Québec needed an arboreal emblem in the 1980s they gravitated towards the beloved maple. Unfortunately, il a été pris par les fédérales (it was taken by the federal government). The Minister of Natural Resources asked the chief forester what the most common tree in Québec was, to which the forester replied, “Why, c’est l’épinette noir (black spruce) M. le Ministre.” So off they went to the Abitibi region to look at les épinettes noirs. One glance at its skinny trunk, flaky bark and ubiquitous ball on top, and the Minister made an instantaneous decision: no way would this ugly tree represent Québec. And so, Québec went ahead and adopted the yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), a noble hardwood with interesting characteristics but with much less significance for the province.

Because most Canadians live in the south in a landscape dominated by deciduous trees (also known as hardwoods or leafy trees) we do not realize how much of Canada is conifer. Conifers (or evergreens) are by far the predominant tree in Canada. Of the 348 million hectares of forest in Canada (9 percent of the world’s forest) 236 million hectares (or 68 percent) is conifers with another 55 million mixed wood, which can have a large component of conifer as well. We are indeed an evergreen nation.

Conifers are more scientifically known as gymnosperms (which means naked seed) having an exposed seed (or ovule) unlike angiosperms (flowering plants, deciduous) whose seeds are covered by a fruit (or ovaries). In the case of conifers, a male cone produces pollen which in turn can fertilize a female cone which then produces seeds. You can identify a tree from its cone, but thankfully there are other ways to distinguish conifers as well. Personally, I advocate the “roll and grab test” of the needles as a first cut in distinguishing all conifers.

When you pick a spruce needle, it is always singularly attached to the stem

and rolls easily in your fingers (unlike fir or hemlock).

When you grab a bunch of the needles, they will prick you a bit, unlike fir, pine, or hemlock, which is another telltale sign.

The cones between the spruces are quite variable. Some are long, like Norway spruce (Picea abies) at 6 inches; others like black spruce are short, at 2 inches.

The native spruces can be limited for landscaping purposes. White spruce (P. glauca) can be difficult to grow in the city (e.g. black spruce – forget it) although there are cultivars such as the dwarf Alberta spruce (P. glauca ‘Conica’) used for this purpose.

Norway spruce (P. abies), a European non-invasive species can do well in the urban situation as does the USAnative and better-known Colorado blue spruce (P. pungens). Other spruce species raised for landscaping purposes includes Serbian spruce (P. omorika) and oriental spruce (P. orientalis).

The pines are memorialized in many pictures by the Group of Seven and others and are widely desired for landscape plantings around the world.

They have more than one needle attached to the stem in what is called a bundle sheath, which can roll in your fingers. A bundle sheath has two, three or five needles, which are soft when you grab them.

The twos and threes are known as hard pines, based on their wood, and includes the native jack (Pinus banksiana), red (P. resinosa) and lodgepole pine (P. contorta). They have serotinous—or resin-sealed—cones which open with intense heat like wildfire.

The soft pines include the white pines (P. strobus and the western P. monticola). These are five-needle pines; you can remember it because there are five letters in w-h-i-t-e. White pine cannot tolerate the salts used for de-icing in the winter although many cultivars have been produced for landscaping.

In the urban situation, other exotic pines are used including Austrian pine (P. nigra) a two-needle pine with its long needles and tolerance to street salt; Mugo pine (P. mugo) which forms multiple, low stems; Swiss stone pine (P. cembra) a hardy, slow-growing pine resistant to street salt; and Scots pine (P. sylvestris) whose many cultivars are used across Canada. Others include lacebark pine (P. bungeana), Japanese red pine (P. densiflora), limber pine (P. flexilis), shortleaf pine (P. echinata), Korean pine (P. koraiensis), Japanese white pine (P. parviflora), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa), the three-needle pitch pine (P. rigida), loblolly pine (P. taeda), Japanese black pine (P. thunbergia) and Himalayan pine (P. wallichiana). Some of these exotic pines can have disease problems, with Scots pine sometimes producing a poorly formed tree which can be invasive in certain areas.

The classic Christmas tree due to its naturally triangular form, balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is found right across Canada.

Its needles, singularly attached to the stem, do not roll in your fingers and when you grab them, the needles seem soft and luxuriant.

It produces a resin on its bark that you will remember forever if you get it in your hair.

The cones stand upright in the tree unlike pine or spruce.

A short-lived, very shade tolerant conifer, its use in landscaping is limited although other firs such as Cilician fir (A. cilicia) and white fir (A. concolor) seem to do better.

Sometimes Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is called a fir with its upright cones (it is not) but it remains a tree best found in the natural forest where it can grow great lumber on very tall and large trees.

Hemlock has a noticeably short needle with a pale underside that does not roll in your fingers and is quite soft when you grab a branch. It is slow growing and long lived and is infrequently used for landscaping. Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is the most widely planted hemlock in Canada.

Yew (sometimes mistakenly called juniper) deserves special mention because, while not being a major component of our forests, it provides the basis for a great deal of landscaping in Canada due to its easiness to prune and its limited height. It too has a flat needle and a soft touch when grabbed. The most common type is English yew (Taxus baccata) in which many cultivars have been produced. It can grow in the shade and is widely used in Canadian gardens.

Junipers are one of the most used and important trees for landscaping, especially for groundcovers but also for windscreens, hedges, rock gardens and such. It also has a telltale blue berry used to flavour gin. Their needles are short and prickly and do not roll in your hand. The main species used include: Chinese juniper (Juniperus chinensis) which has hundreds of cultivars, common juniper (J. communis) native to Canada, as well as shore juniper (J. conferta), Dahurian juniper (J. davurica), creeping juniper (J. horizontalis), Japanese garden juniper (J. procumbens), savin juniper (J. sabina), Rocky Mountain juniper (J. scopulorum), singleseed juniper (J. squamata), the native eastern red cedar (J. virginiana) and several others.

They can be confused sometimes with the junipers, but both the eastern white cedar (Thuya occidentalis) as well as western red cedar (T. plicata), have flat, splays of needles and small cones that are distinctive for conifers. The cedars are widely used for landscape plantings due to their rapid growth rates and ease of pruning. Eastern white cedar and western red cedar consist of many cultivars, some of which assume a decidedly global or pyramidal form, attractive to some homeowners. Another species of cedar, widely used in landscaping is the oriental arborvitae (T. orientalis).

The false cypress is an interesting family of conifers. These are pyramidal trees, with closely pressed, oppositely budded, frond-like branches. Their use in landscaping has increased in recent years, especially in warmer climates. Specimens include PortOrford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsonia), Hinoki cypress (C. obtusa), the native yellow-cedar (C. nootkatensis), Sawara false cypress (C. pisifera) and Atlantic white cedar (C. thyoides), which seems to be the most widely cultivated false cypress for landscaping.

A very interesting tree that is being more widely planted, probably due to climate change, is the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). With its flattened, linear and oppositely budded needles it has a beautiful reddish bark valuable for landscaping. Rediscovered in the 1940s in China, it had been found in fossils over 100 million years old.

Finally, the larches deserve mention. Technically conifers, they lose their needles annually in a fall colour display that can be very beautiful. They are an interesting tree with a needle that cannot roll but is soft to the touch, borne on short shoots called spurs. Species include the native tamarack (Larix laricina) as well as many cultivars of both European larch (L. decidua) and Japanese larch (L. kaempferi).

Michael Rosen is a Registered Professional Forester and Certified Arborist based in Cantley, Quebec. He is the former President of Tree Canada and can be reached at mikerosen95@outlook. com.