black spruce

noun

: a widely distributed spruce (Picea mariana) of northern North America that grows chiefly in moist soils and bogs

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The fire was started by lightning on May 31 and has continued to burn through tundra, dry grasses, brush and black spruce.

Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, 13 June 2022 Taiga, as this forest is called, is composed of dense black spruce forests and a mosaic of other forest trees.

John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 4 June 2022 Caribou in the Delta herd and Macomb herd, which utilize lichen in the black spruce forests, have been forced to move to areas with lesser-quality feed.

John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Feb. 2022 As the dominant conifer in Alaska over the past 7,000 years, black spruce have adapted to the flames; their cones are clustered at the very top of the tree and open after a fire to shed seeds, which help to reestablish the ecosystem.

Randi Jandt, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2021 Interior Alaska's boreal zone is dominated by black spruce: small, slow-growing trees that form dense stands.

Randi Jandt, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2021 And, of course, lichens are always prolific on the tundra and in black spruce forests.

John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Sep. 2021 The wood, which against all odds survived the last ice age, is likely black spruce.

Erin Adler, Star Tribune, 19 May 2021 Prior to the 2004 fire season, black spruce was the dominant tree in more than half of the forest area that burned.

Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Apr. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'black spruce.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.