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

See Examples For:

black spruce

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

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

The fire was started by lightning on May 31 and has continued to burn through tundra, dry grasses, brush and black spruce.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 14, 2022

Absent of taproot, the black spruce leans madly where permafrost slumps into thermokarst.

From Scientific American ● Jun. 28, 2020

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