Fjelledelgran
Plant genus: spruce genus ( Abies )
Plant family: pine family (Pinacee)
The name lasiocarpa comes from Latin and means “with woolly fruit”. Fjelledelgrana has been given this name because parts of the cone are covered with small fine hairs. However, a cone is not a fruit – only flowering plants have it – but cones are the seedlings of conifers in the same way that fruits are the seedlings of flowering plants.
Initial distribution
Norway spruce is wild in western North America. The main distribution is in the Rocky Mountains, but it is found from southeastern Alaska to western Canada and south in mountainous areas all the way down to New Mexico. Fjelledelgran looks different in different parts of its natural distribution and is therefore divided into several subspecies.
When, how and why did it come to Norway?
Fjelledelgran was introduced as a forest tree to Western Norway around 1900. It is a hardy tree that has proven to be suitable for cultivation inland. It is only in recent decades that it has become popular as a Christmas tree. This is because the needles are neither pointed nor sprinkled. Fjelledelgran can hold the needles for up to seven weeks at room temperature. The tree is also relatively narrow, which means that it does not take up much space. In addition, it has an aromatic scent.
Size and appearance
Mountain spruce grows to around 20 m in height, but can in good conditions extend to a height of 40-50 meters with a trunk diameter of 1 meter. The crown is often dense and narrow cone-shaped.
As a young spruce, mountain fir has an even and gray-green bark with suffocating blisters, called suffocation pockets. The tough kva helps the tree to defend itself against diseases and insects, such as. bark beetles. As the tree gets older, the color of the bark will change to gray or lime-white, and can then also become furrowed and scaly at the very bottom of the trunk.
The needles are pale blue-green, flat and often without a tip. They can grow up to 4 cm long and are often curved upwards. The needles also have light bands with slit openings; two on the underside and one on the upper side. It is through these small openings that the tree “breathes in” carbon dioxide from the air and “exhales” oxygen – which is actually a waste product of photosynthesis.
The cones are purple and are 5-10 cm long and 2.5-3.5 cm wide. Parts of the cones are covered with fine yellow-brown hairs.
How to recognize a mountain spruce?
Norway spruce is a type of spruce. All species of spruce can be distinguished from other trees in the pine family by the needles being hard and attached individually to the branches with a suction cup-like structure. In addition, ripe cones stand facing up from the branches, like lights on a Christmas tree. The cones will also disintegrate after they have matured.
Some of the characteristic features of mountain spruce are that it has a dense and narrow cone-shaped top, the bark is gray-white with stinging pockets, shoot buds are almost spherical and filled with stinging, the needles often face upwards and are pale blue-green with light fields on the top and bottom, in addition to the fact that the tree has an aromatic scent.
References
Elven R, Hegre H, Solstad H, Pedersen O, Pedersen PA, Åsen PA and Vandvik V (2018, 5 June). Abies lasiocarpa, assessment of ecological risk. Alien species list 2018. Species database. https://www.artsdatabanken.no/fab2018/N/167 [2020, 29 November]
Hansen, Egil & Hansen, Ole Billing (2007 ). Trees and shrubs for Norwegian gardens . Tun publishing house
More, David & White, John (2005). Trees in Norway and Europe . Damm publishing house. Translated by Torgeir Ulshagen
Uchytil, Ronald J. 1991. Abies lasiocarpa. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/abilas/all.html [2020, November 29]