Picea

Picea, commonly known as spruce, is a genus of roughly 37 species of coniferous trees in the pine family Pinaceae, native to the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Spruces are distinguished from other Pinaceae by their stiff, four-sided needles, each attached singly to a small persistent peg-like structure (pulvinus) on the twig; when needles are shed after four to ten years, the twigs remain rough with these retained pegs. Spruce is a major commercial timber source for construction and paper pulp, and is the standard tonewood for the soundboards of acoustic guitars and other stringed instruments; the Norway spruce is also the traditional Christmas tree species across much of Europe. Spruce forests face significant pests, including the eastern spruce budworm and several spruce bark beetle species.