The Spruce needles are short , slightly curving, fairly stiff, and sharp-pointed and they grow in such fashion that the branchlets seem “armed at all points”. They resemble a cylinder of bristles that stick out in all directions. Grab the small cylinder with your hand and it will feel prickly at the touch. It is quite different from the comparatively flat or 2-ranked foliage of the Hemlocks and the upward sweep of the Fir foliage. There are other differences such as the way the cones of our Spruces hang below the horizontal branch while the Fir cones are carried erect on the branchlets.
The Spruces are the trees that furnish the bulk of the wood pulp used in the manufacturing of paper of all kinds.
