Serbian Spruce
 

Mature Size, Growth, Longevity

Average mature landscape size of 50-60' tall and 20-25' wide. Narrow trunk. Old specimens may eventually reach heights of 100'. Much variation in habit: typically graceful, narrow-pyramidal/conical, but can be more broad-pyramidal to obelisk in shape. Slow to medium growth rate, 1-1.5' per year. These trees are often relatively short-lived (35-50 years) in the landscape or when used as a street tree.

Native Range

Native to Southeastern Europe. Found in the former Yugoslavia, and often confined to stands in limestone mountains on either side of the upper Drina River in Bosnia, Serbia, and Herzegovina; introduced about 1880.

Flower and Fruit Details

Flowers are attractive, monoecious, male red in color, 0.5-0.75" long, resembling ripe strawberries. Fruits in oblong-ovoid cones, 1.25-2.5" long, 0.5-0.75" wide, pendent, violet-purple when young, glossy cinnamon-brown at maturity.

Leaf and Bark Features

Evergreen: Needles are 0.5-1" long, rounded or flat and keeled, glossy, dark green, no stomata above, but glaucous white with stomatic bands on each side of the midrib beneath, giving a very showy, 2-toned effect, with branches green on top but bluish beneath. Bark is thin, scaling off and splitting into narrow plates or platelets, coffee brown in color.

Culture and Care

Prefers a deep, rich soil that is both moist and well-drained. One of the most adaptable spruces - grows on limestone and acid peats. Tolerates air pollution. More drought-tolerant than most spruces. Zones 4-7. It is helpful to have some winter protection from strong winds, although it usually tolerates cold winters quite well. Tolerates hot summer heat and high humidity. Susceptible to aphids, budworm and borers, but not usually serious.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Other Facts

One of the most handsome of the spruces, more graceful and refined than most. Silvery undersides of the needles give the tree beautiful ornamental appeal, as branch tips curl upwards to reveal the silvery-blue beneath. Good wildlife value. 4-season interest: Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter. Not as long-lived as some of the other spruces. Plantsman and author, Michael Dirr, considers this one of the 5 best spruces for general landscape use in the Midwest, East, and Upper South, calling this one of his 2 favorite spruces. Due to limited natural range, it is an endangered species.

Suggested Uses

Effectively used as an accent plant, specimen tree, screen, evergreen street tree, or in group plantings.

Taxa and Plants of this Species at BCA