Jezo spruce is a tall spruce native to Japan, Korea, northeastern China, and the Russian Far East, and a close relative of the Sitka spruce that grows on the other side of the North Pacific. It is not native to the United States, where it is only occasionally planted as an ornamental in large gardens and arboretums. It is also called Yezo spruce.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A large evergreen tree, usually 100–165 ft (30–50 m) tall, with a broad, cone-shaped crown.
- Leaves
- Needles about 0.4–0.8 in (10–20 mm) long, glossy dark green on top with two whitish bands underneath.
- Fruit
- Hanging cones 1.5–2.75 in (4–7 cm) long with thin, papery scales, ripening to pale brown about 5–6 months after pollination.
Look-alikes
Very hard to tell apart. Jezo spruce has no white lines on the upper side of its needles, while Sitka spruce does, and its needles are blunter; you need a close-up of the needle's top surface.
Why they get mixed upThey are close relatives that fill the same role on opposite sides of the North Pacific.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Cool mountain conifer forests
- Mixed conifer-hardwood forests
- Range
- Native to Hokkaido and the mountains of Honshu in Japan, Korea, northeastern China, the Russian Far East, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and Kamchatka. It grows from low coastal ground up to about 8,200 ft (2,500 m).
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in cold, humid forests.
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy in USDA zones 4–5. New spring growth is often damaged by late frosts. The Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts grows several trees raised from wild-collected seed from Hokkaido and northeastern China.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Much of the logging in the Russian Far East and northern Japan comes from natural forests, and much of that wood is harvested unsustainably, often illegally.
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