# Black Spruce (Picea mariana)

> Black spruce, Picea mariana: a medium tree of 25 to 75 feet for zones 2 to 6, when it sheds pollen and bears cones, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/black-spruce/

![Young black spruce topped with a cluster of dark purple cones, standing before a bog forest of narrow spruces](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/black-spruce-1000.jpg?v=558ebea4 "A young black spruce with purple cones at its top, in a bog forest south of the Kobuk River, Alaska, on August 8, 2011. Its half-closed cones let seed go for years.")
*Photo: Western Arctic National Parklands, [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APicea_mariana_(8452908870).jpg))*

Medium tree, 25 to 75 feet, zones 2 to 6; full sun, part shade or shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow black spruce, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Black Spruce |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Bog spruce, swamp spruce, shortleaf black spruce |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 25 to 75 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 30 |
| Zones | 2 to 6 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Pollen | May to June |
| Fruit | Cones, August to October |
| First crop | 10 years (much seed only from about 30) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones, but self-pollination lowers the share of filled seed, so a lone spruce bears less sound seed than spruces in a group. |
| Lifespan | Can live 370 years or more, and the oldest dated one reached 330. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Floodplain forests, dry uplands, the Appalachians, swamps and wet flats |
| Native in | 13 states |

Black spruce is native in 13 states: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=black-spruce&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=black-spruce): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=black-spruce:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=black-spruce): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Balsam Fir](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-fir/index.html.md) (*Abies balsamea*): medium tree, 40 to 75 feet, zones 2 to 7. Shares floodplain forests, the Appalachians, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Black Gum (Tupelo)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md) (*Nyssa sylvatica*): large tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, dry uplands, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus rubra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares floodplain forests and dry uplands in the wild.
- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [River Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/river-birch/index.html.md) (*Betula nigra*): medium tree, 40 to 70 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats in the wild.
- [Chestnut Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chestnut-oak/index.html.md) (*Quercus montana*): medium tree, 50 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares dry uplands and the Appalachians in the wild.
- [Every companion of black spruce in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=black-spruce)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service, Ontario's Old Growth Forests and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.