Lookalikes

Japanese larch or Norway spruce?

Both are plantation conifers on the same hillsides.

The quickest check

The quickest check is where the needles join the shoot. Japanese larch: soft, crowded in tufts on short spurs. Norway spruce: single, stiff and sharp, on woody pegs. No leaves on the tree? Check the cone.

At a glance

Look at	Japanese larch	Norway spruce
Where the needles join the shoot	Soft, crowded in tufts on short spurs	Single, stiff and sharp, on woody pegs
Cone	Nearly round, about 30 mm, standing upright	Long and slender, hanging down, to 20 cm

Two ways to tell them apart

Where the needles join the shootLeaves

Japanese larch: where the needles join the shoot — Japanese larchSoft, crowded in tufts on short spurs

Norway spruce: where the needles join the shoot — Norway spruceSingle, stiff and sharp, on woody pegs

ConeCones

Japanese larch: cone — Japanese larchNearly round, about 30 mm, standing upright

Norway spruce: cone — Norway spruceLong and slender, hanging down, to 20 cm

Think you can tell them apart now? Try the tree quiz: real photographs, and what gives each tree away.Take the quiz

The two trees

Japanese larch

Larix kaempferi

Japanese larch is a conifer planted in forests across Britain. Its dark greyish green needles all fall in autumn. Its round cones have thin scales whose tips curl out and back.

How to identify Japanese larch →

Norway spruce

Picea abies

Norway spruce is the traditional Christmas tree. Its needles sit singly on tiny woody pegs and roll between finger and thumb. Its long cones hang straight down.

How to identify Norway spruce →

Their other lookalikes

Norway spruce or European larch?Quickest check: how the needles sit

Norway spruce or Scots pine?Quickest check: how the needles are set

In the app

See them side by side in Treely

Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them

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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Simon Colenutt (CC BY 4.0), dawn2022 (CC BY 4.0), megachile (CC0), pilmar (CC0), dsykodave (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.