Earth Observatory Home NASA Earth Observatory Home Data and Images Features News Reference Missions Experiments Search
NASA's Earth Observatory
 Earth Observatory Navigation Bar
Turn glossary mode on Experiments

  Coniferous Forest Temperate Deciduous Forest Desert Grassland Rainforest Shrubland Tundra   Spruce
Spruce

The spruce (Picea) is an evergreen with short, blue-green, waxy leaves called needles. The waxy coating on the needles helps evergreen trees conserve water during the very cold winters where they live, when soil water is frozen and not available for the trees to use. The spruce is a conifer, which means that it produces seed cones instead of flowers. It grows slowly and is easily killed by fire.

Back to To Plant or Not to Plant?

Metric Converter | Vocabulary | Teacher Resource | Back to Top

  Saguaro Creosote Bush Flowering Dogwood Bluestem Grasses Lichen Orchid White Sage Spruce -- You are here

   
Subscribe to the Earth Observatory
About the Earth Observatory
Contact Us
Privacy Policy and Important Notices
Responsible NASA Official: Lorraine A. Remer
Webmaster: Goran Halusa
We're a part of the Science Mission Directorate