black spruce

American  

noun

1. a spruce, Picea mariana, of North America, having bluish-green leaves and grayish-brown bark.

2. the light, soft wood of this tree.

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black spruce British  

noun

1. Also called: spruce pine.  a coniferous tree, Picea mariana , of the northern regions of North America, growing mostly in cold bogs and having dark green needles

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Etymology

Origin of black spruce

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65

Example Sentences

They find that increasing wildfires are wiping out black spruce forests that grow relatively slowly and contribute to the organic layer of the underlying soils.

From Science Daily • Apr. 16, 2024

But the cold weather forest in northern Minnesota is a place where only the hardiest trees can survive winter: black spruce, jack pine and quaking aspen, to name a few.

From Scientific American • May 5, 2023

Today, water from the lake is processed and piped from the treatment plant to about 40 homes and government buildings on the reserve, which is encircled by forests of black spruce and jack pine.

From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2022

It is burning in a mix of tundra, brush, hard wood trees and black spruce.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 25, 2022

So I explained that trees don’t grow real big in that part of the state, that a bear could knock down one of them skinny little black spruce without even trying.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer