Sitka spruce
Introduced · Up to 60 m

Sitka spruce

Picea sitchensis · Pinaceae

Sitka spruce is a bluish grey conifer planted over whole hillsides in the west and north. Its needles are flat, and sharp enough to hurt a hand run along the shoot.

Know it byNeedlesFlat, 15 to 25 mm, with two bluish white bands underneath.ShootsWhitish and hairless, pegs left when needles drop.ConesSlender and hanging, 6 to 10 cm, pale brown when ripe.

Then check · BarkPurplish grey and broken into small, rough, scaly plates, reddish brown underneath where one has just flaked away.

How to identify a Sitka spruce

Sitka spruce: needlesCaroline Kane, CC BY 4.0
Needles

Flat and 15 to 25 mm long, green on top with two bright bluish white bands underneath, and painfully sharp at the tip.

Sitka spruce: shootsCaroline Kane, CC BY 4.0
Shoots

Whitish and hairless, rough all along with woody pegs, which stay behind when the needles drop.

Sitka spruce: conesBarry Walter, CC BY 4.0
Cones

Slender and 6 to 10 cm long, hanging and pale brown when ripe, with thin, papery scales crinkled at the edge.

Learn the Sitka spruce in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Sitka spruce shoots and needles: flat sharp needles, bluish white beneathCaroline Kane, CC BY 4.0
Shoots and needlesFlat sharp needles, bluish white beneath
Sitka spruce cones: papery crinkle-edged cones, 6 to 10 cmBarry Walter, CC BY 4.0
ConesPapery crinkle-edged cones, 6 to 10 cm
Sitka spruce shape: broad open cone, sparse bluish grey crown
ShapeBroad open cone, sparse bluish grey crown

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Cones

In leaf: all year · Flowers: May · Cones: June to October

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Upland plantations on damp, high ground in the wetter north and west, with a few trees in parks and in rows planted for shelter. It is almost absent from the dry lowlands. Wild ones grow only near the west coast of North America. It stands up well to exposed places and salt spray.

What it’s mistaken for

  • Norway spruceBoth are big forestry spruces with pegged shoots. Leaf. Sitka spruce: flat, staying flat, bluish white beneath. Norway spruce: four-sided, turning freely.
  • Noble firBoth are bluish grey conifers of the wet west. Leaf. Sitka spruce: bluish white beneath, painfully sharp at the tip. Noble fir: bluish grey on both faces, rounded at the tip.
  • Western hemlockBoth grow in the same wet plantations, with a similar spire. Leaf. Sitka spruce: stiff and painfully sharp. Western hemlock: rounded and blunt.
  • Douglas firBoth make towering timber stands in the west. Leaf. Sitka spruce: stiff needles, sharp enough to make a hand smart. Douglas fir: soft and flexible, bending under a hand.

More pines, firs, spruces, larches and cedars

Atlas cedarCedrus atlanticaCedar of LebanonCedrus libaniCorsican pinePinus nigra subsp. laricioDouglas firPseudotsuga menziesiiEuropean larchLarix deciduaGrand firAbies grandisJapanese larchLarix kaempferiNoble firAbies procera
In the app

There’s more of the Sitka spruce in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the Sitka spruce on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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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: tracks73 (CC0), Caroline Kane (CC BY 4.0), Barry Walter (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.