Sitka spruce
The giant of the coastal fog belt, whose light, strong wood built early airplanes, with needles sharp enough to prick your finger.
Sitka spruce at a glance
Picea sitchensis SIT-kuh sproos; Picea sitchensis is PY-see-uh sit-KEN-sis
- Type
- Plant · tree
- Diet
- Producer
- Size
- One of the tallest trees on Earth, up to about 300 feet, with a wide flaring base.
- Lifespan
- Often 500 to 800 years, and some pass 1,000.
- Conservation
- Not formally assessed as threatened by IUCN; common along the Pacific coast
A green tree that makes its own food from sunlight, thriving in the constant salt fog and rain of the immediate coast where few other big trees grow well.
Is it safe to touch?
Safe, but gently touch the needles rather than grabbing a branch. Sitka spruce needles are stiff and sharp enough to prick, which is an easy way to tell it from the soft-needled hemlocks and firs beside it.
Right where the land meets the Pacific, where salt fog rolls in most mornings and the wind never quite stops, one big tree grows closer to the ocean than almost any other. Sitka spruce forms a dark green wall along the outer coast at Redwood and Olympic, drinking the salt mist that would scorch the leaves off most trees, climbing to 300 feet in the wettest valleys. Reach out and touch a branch, gently, and it touches back. The needles are stiff and sharp enough to prick your finger, and that quick sting is the surest way to tell a spruce from the soft-needled hemlocks and firs standing beside it.
The wood inside that trunk hides the tree’s strangest chapter. Sitka spruce is unusually light for how strong it is, a rare combination, and in the early days of flight that made it the wood to build with. When the first airplanes went up, and especially during the First World War, factories turned out aircraft frames by the thousands from Sitka spruce, whole squadrons of them, because the wood could carry a load without weighing the plane down.
Stand at the base of a living one now and none of that seems possible. It is simply enormous and quiet, its roots gripping a foggy headland, its top swaying somewhere out of sight. Prick your finger once on a needle to be sure of its name, then tip your head back and follow the trunk up into the mist. A tree exactly like this one once learned to fly.
Did you know?
- Its needles are stiff and so sharp-tipped that a light touch can prick your finger, which is the quickest way to tell a spruce from its soft-needled neighbors.
- Its wood is unusually light for how strong it is, so in the early days of flight, airplane frames, including many World War I planes, were built from Sitka spruce.
- It grows right up to the ocean's edge, drinking the salt fog that would burn most trees, which is why it forms a dark green wall along the outer coast.
Common questions
How can I tell a Sitka spruce from other trees?
Touch the needles, carefully. Sitka spruce needles are stiff and sharp enough to prick, while the hemlocks and firs growing beside it have soft, flat needles. The sharp poke is the giveaway.
Were airplanes really made of Sitka spruce?
Yes. Its wood is light but very strong, so early airplane builders used it for the frames of many aircraft, including a large number of World War I planes.
Why does Sitka spruce grow right by the ocean?
It can handle constant salt fog and wind that would harm most trees. That lets it form a dark green wall of forest along the very edge of the Pacific coast.