Tree · Pinaceae
Black spruce
Picea mariana
Black spruce is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 215 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Black spruce at a glance
- Native in
- 215 counties, across 14 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a PLANTS minimum temperature −79°F
- Mature height
- 65 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 1a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −79°F; zone 1a winters bottom out at −60°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Black spruce is recorded as native to 14 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 215 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 215 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 12 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Illinois 1 county
- Maine 15 counties
- Massachusetts 9 counties
- Michigan 43 counties
- Minnesota 23 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 7 counties
- New York 27 counties
- Pennsylvania 16 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- Vermont 13 counties
- Wisconsin 39 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 65 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Conical
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 5 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.7 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −79°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 60
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- Yes
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Pinaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PIMA
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Picea mariana (PLANTS symbol PIMA).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources