The oldest European spruce in the world is called... Husky

There are several Linnaeus Trails in Uppsala, Sweden. They are named after the paths that Linnaeus took when he led his students to identify plants during field internships.

One of the routes goes through Uppsala’s urban forest (Stadsskogen), which I also took one summer. It attracted me not only because it was a path that my ancestors had walked, but also because there was a European spruce (Picea abies) tree on the route, which is the largest in Uppsala and one of the largest in Sweden.

The tree is now much taller than its 37m height in 2017 | vincentheo

But the biggest doesn't necessarily mean the oldest. In 2004, natural geographer Leif Kalman and his husky Tjikko discovered a 5-meter-tall European spruce in Dalarna, Sweden. In order to study the impact of global warming on the local ecological environment, he used radiocarbon dating to test the trunk of the tree and found that the roots of the tree were 9,550 years old .

9,550-year-old European spruce | Karl Brodowsky / Wikipedia

When the tree was first planted, the last ice age had just ended and humans were still in the prehistoric wilderness. Over the past 10,000 years, human civilization has continued to advance, and the trunk of this tree has continued to die and regenerate on its original roots. The trunk currently seen is about 600 years old .

Kalman decided to give this European spruce tree, which witnessed the history of human civilization, a name, Old Tjikko , after the Husky.

The name is Shan, but it is actually pine.

As the name suggests, European spruce is mainly distributed in Europe, from Norway in the west to the Ural Mountains in Russia in the east and the Balkan Peninsula in the south. Because European spruce is very cold-resistant and can withstand temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius , it is also distributed within the Arctic Circle in the northernmost part of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Cold-resistant European spruce can also be found within the Arctic Circle | Darekk2 / Wikipedia

My research project in Sweden is on plant diseases on the cones of European spruce. In this country with a forest coverage rate of 57%, 42% of the trees in the forest are spruce trees, mainly European spruce, 39% are pine trees, mainly Scots pine, 12% are birch trees, mainly Betula pendula, and other broad-leaved trees account for only 7%. If you know European spruce and Scots pine, you will know more than half of the trees in Northern Europe.

Even in winter, when covered with snow, you can easily tell that the symmetrical branches are European spruce, the asymmetrical ones are European pine, and the ones without leaves are others | vincentheo

The Taxodium family, including Metasequoia, Giant Sequoia, and Redwood, has now been reclassified under the Cupressaceae family . However, although the word "Fir" is in the name, Picea abies has nothing to do with the Taxodium family. It is actually a plant of the subfamily Taxoideae of the Pinaceae family , and is the same family as the common Masson pine with clusters of long needles and the European Scots pine mentioned above.

The leaflets of Metasequoia are pinnately opposite, which is distinct from the "cedars" of the Pinaceae family, such as Picea and Chinese Fir. | Rasbak / Wikipedia

All are treasures

The new leaves of the European spruce are very soft and cute when they first grow in spring. At this time, the branches have not yet opened, and all the needles on the new branches are gathered into a cluster of tender green , which looks like a paintbrush dipped in green paint and feels soft and cool to the touch.

New needles of Norway spruce | Bavnhoej / Wikipedia

The Vikings would pick the young leaves and use them in beer brewing , believing that drinking spruce beer would give them strength in battle and prevent scurvy during long voyages. Captain Cook also brought this spruce beer on his long voyage to Oceania. Spruce needles are indeed rich in vitamin C , but it is hard to say how much is left in the beer after it is boiled and fermented.

Spruce Beer | AdamChandler86/Flickr

The needles of mature European spruce are dark green and grow directly on the reddish-brown branches. If you look closely, you can find four white stomatal lines , which feel very prickly to the touch.

Mature European spruce needles | Marija Gajić / Wikipedia

European spruce grows fast, and the wood it produces is commonly known as white pine (the word "pine" is used very correctly here), which is commonly used as a building material and furniture material , and can also be used to make musical instruments . Because the wood fiber of European spruce has good properties, the wood is also pulped to make high-quality paper . Currently, Sweden is the world's third largest exporter of wood and paper products, with an annual forest harvest of 90 million cubic meters, but a growth volume of up to 120 million cubic meters.

To maintain this sustainable forestry where more trees are cut down, it is necessary to insist on planting European spruce and European red pine after felling.

Scots pine forest | Ruta Badina / Wikipedia

Seeds in short supply

Planting European spruce sounds simple and straightforward, just buy the seedlings and plant them in the soil, but there are actually many details behind it. When planting ordinary grain crops and fruits, people often choose the same variety with basically the same genetic genes, so that the growth cycle of the crops is consistent and the quality of the agricultural products obtained is also consistent.

But even in plantations, it is necessary to maintain the genetic diversity of trees so that the forest ecosystem can maintain its ability to resist disturbance. While maintaining diversity, these seedlings also need suitable soil , the ability to resist pests and diseases , and to grow quickly . In Northern Europe, such European spruce seeds are produced by professional seed gardens.

Norway spruce seed orchards in Finland. The trees are planted more neatly than in timber plantations | vincentheo

It takes 40 years and a whole generation of labor for a seed garden to go from planning and planting to harvesting the first batch of seeds on a large scale. What’s more troublesome is that even a mature seed garden will not produce seeds every year. European spruce will only grow female cones on a large scale once every 6 to 7 years , which means that the annual output of the seed garden must meet the supply for six years. Therefore, European spruce seeds in the Nordic market are often in short supply.

In 2019, the European spruce trees in Sweden have agreed to do something big | vincentheo

In the spring of a good year, the European spruce looks most like a Christmas tree, with red female cones pointing upwards like candle decorations on a Christmas tree. Shaking the branches will cause "snowflakes" to fall - pollen from the male cones.

Handmade "snowfall" | vincentheo

After pollination, the red female cones droop and turn light green , the scales gradually harden, and finally turn brown in autumn. Under natural conditions, the mature cones open their scales, and the seeds with membranous wings can fly far away on the wind.

Cones and seeds of Picea abies | Kohler's Medicinal Plants (1897)

The cones of European spruce are the longest among all the spruce trees, reaching up to 17 cm . A perfect spruce cone is full of rustic natural atmosphere and can be used as a variety of home decorations . For example, many cuckoo clocks have two pendulums that look like corn cobs hanging under them, which are actually two spruce cones.

Spruce cone decoration | Хомелка / Wikipedia

European spruce grows quickly and can grow into a Christmas tree suitable for home interiors in 3 years . There are many Christmas tree farms in the United States, where buyers can select their favorite trees on site, cut them down and transport them home.

The production and sale of a 2-meter-high artificial Christmas tree will generate 40 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions, while for a natural spruce Christmas tree of the same size, only 3.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions will be generated during the entire process of production, sale and recycling. The service life of an artificial Christmas tree rarely reaches 10 years, so using natural plants as Christmas trees is undoubtedly a more environmentally friendly choice.

Author:vincentheo

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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