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Index of Subjects Thank you, Rick! The suspected Norway Spruce does not roll, whereas the other three spruces do roll. Very neat test, I won't forget. Also, the smell test of the three native species works well. The ID as Norway spruce is concerning. They are in the Dingle Park, around Frog Pond, an 'alien' invasive. Thanks again for your help, Burkhard On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 9:44 PM, Rick Ballard <ideaphore@gmail.com> wrote: > The spruces can also be differentiated by smell: > > "If you remove a needle and attempt to roll it between thumb and forefinger, > Norway and blue spruce needles will resist due to their diamond shape, while > white, red, and black needles, being rounder in cross section, will all roll > readily. Once you’ve established that the yet-unidentified needle does not > belong to a Norway or blue, you might as well pinch and smell it. If the > bruised needle releases a pungent odor evocative of cat urine or skunk > (something to consider if you’re thinking about hosting it in your living > room for a few months!), it almost certainly belongs to a white spruce. You > may detect subtle hints of orange rind from the red spruce and a medicinal, > menthol smell from the black spruce." > > See: > http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/spruce-up-your-id-skills > > On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 2:19 PM, Burkhard Plache <burkhardplache@gmail.com> > wrote: >> >> Hello friendly botanists, >> >> I am trying to get a better identification handle on the spruces. >> >> When the cones are nice and well developed, I am fairly comfortable >> to ID a white spruce (longest cone), and black spruces with their dark >> violet colored cones are also recognizable. And the intermediate red >> spruce >> cones are also ok(ish). >> >> In the absence of cones, hairs on the young twigs are used to identify >> the species (no hairs for white spruce). >> >> I took some photos (linked below) with labels for black, red, and white >> spruce (based on cones that were on the trees but not in the photos). >> >> One spruce looked different. >> I tentatively labelled it 'Norway Spruce', because it appeared to be >> very fast growing (1 foot per year under canopy, some 10-15 year old), >> had 'red spruce like needle color' (subjective), and no hairs on the >> branches. >> It could also be a white spruce, even though its new growth and needle >> attachment does not look like in the white spruce. >> >> I welcome any comments or advice. >> >> https://www.dropbox.com/s/i0ghwe6uysmq2m2/HP1550699.JPG?dl=0 >> >> Thanks, >> Burkhard > > > > > -- > Rick Ballard > Dartmouth,Nova Scotia, Canada
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