Black Spruce: Majestic in Might, not Stature

Who wants a quick lesson on the Black Spruce?! This scraggly, sparse, and wee little variety of Spruce seems so meek compared to the other tall and majestic varieties of Spruce, but it is mighty! When you see a stand of these trees, you may feel a bit sorry for them. Let me fix that 😉 The combination of this tree’s love for a cold climate and its very shallow root bed has earned it the endearing nickname of the “drunken tree.” In subarctic climates, they lean this way and that with what seems to be no rhyme or reason. When the permafrost layer of soil they plant their shallow root beds in warms a bit in the summer months, the trees are easily blown to the side by the wind. It looks like these tilted trees are ready to fall over, but they are firmly planted there! These trees also seem to be in a frozen state of youth (lucky!) A tree that looks to be a few years old is truly upwards of 100 years old! The Black Spruce lives to be 150-200 years on average with most of them never exceeding 50 feet tall and one foot in diameter. Their rings are very tightly knit together, making the tree very dense. These trees don’t have the whimsical Christmas tree shape (full at the bottom with pointed cone at the rope). The are long, straight, sparse, and have a bulbous head at the top. This head is called the crown of the tree and has a very brilliant purpose! The Black Spruce is frequented by fires, which is actually to its distinct advantage. The majority of the cones are kept near the top of the tree in the crown so as the seeds are not destroyed in the fires. They release their seeds from the cones post fire, which rapidly colonizes the species. The hardy nature of this tree and its ability to live in such nutrient-poor soil has made it quite the therapeutic tree. The powdered resin of this tree was historically used by native peoples to speed healing. In modern times, it was dubbed the “Frankincense of North America” by the father of the modern essential oils movement, the late D. Gary Young. Feel sorry for it anymore? *They amazing quality of these photographs were brought to you by a moving vehicle through a bug-graveyard of a windshield 😂

Now go break those bonds and live unbound!

#UnboundBethany

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