white spruce

American  

noun

1. a spruce, Picea glauca, of northern North America, having bluish-green needles and silvery-brown bark.

2. the light, soft wood of this tree, used for pulp and in the construction of boxes, crates, etc.

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white spruce British  

noun

1. a N North American spruce tree, Picea glauca, having grey bark, pale brown oblong cones, and bluish-green needle-like leaves

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Etymology

Origin of white spruce

First recorded in 1760–70

Compare meaning

How does white-spruce compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• white spruce vs. Norway spruce
• white spruce vs. blue spruce

Example Sentences

For him, the white spruce fossils were evidence.

From Salon

Ryan Sullivan, a Nature Conservancy field ecologist, measures the growth of a white spruce seedling.

From Washington Post

Last year was a “mast year,” he said, when white spruce trees produce a superabundance of cones, the squirrels’ favorite food.

From Washington Post

I had to cut a mile-long portage through bush and forest up to a beaver lake, where I cleared a site for the cabin amid stands of white spruce, birch and cottonwood trees.

From The Guardian

In the northernmost boreal forests of Alaska, where trees and tundra meet, Griffin and his students have installed thirty-six dendrometers on white spruce trees.

From The New Yorker