Taiga's Plant Life
Balsam - The Balsam Fir is a small to medium sized native evergreen tree. It can grow to be 40 to 80 feet tall. The Balsam fir has a wide base and a narrow top that ends in a slender, spire like top. The brances grow from the trunk at right angles, with the lower brances spreading and drooping to the ground when the tree grows in the open. In a dense stands, many of the lower branches are dead. It can grow to be a maximum of 200 years old.
Black Spruce - The Black Spruce is a tall tree. It can grow to be twenty-five meters tall. It grows in the taiga biome. As the tree gets older the crown of the tree gets more and more like a spike. The Black Spruce has sharp needles with four sides on them. The needles are blue-green, short, and pointed.
Douglas-Fir - Douglas-firs are very big. They can grow from 40 to 60 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet wide. Because of this they are one of the most important lumber trees in the world.The wood is used as lumber, timbers, and plywood.
Eastern Red Cedar - The Eastern Red Cedar is a small evergreen that commonly grows to a height of 10-50 feet. Its name is misleading since it is a juniper and not a cedar. Its range is from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, and west to the Dakotas and Texas. They can grow in any type of soil, and will take over abandoned fields and fence rows
Jack Pine - The Jack pine usually grows to be twenty-seven meters tall and sixteen and thirty-two centimeter diameter around the trunk. As it grows it gets rounder and rounder around the crown area. The bark of the jack pine is a reddish-brown. The bark is also flat. As the tree gets older the bark gets grayer. The jack pine has needles instead of leaves
Paper Birch - trees have a thin bark that peels in horizontal layers which separates into sheets, almost like paper. Birch trees can grow in pairs or clusters. There are many different types of birch trees and they all grow fairly tall. Both the sweet and paper birch can grow anywhere from sixty to eighty feet high
Siberian Spruce - The Pecia ovobata, or Siberian Spruce, is a tall, perennial needle-leaf tree. The Siberian Spruce is a very beautiful tree that can grow up to about 30 meters high. The trunk of this spruce is about 1.5 meters in diameter. It has slightly drooping branches that make it look like a pyramid
White Fir - The White Fir is 60-100 feet tall and can live up to 300 years making it a very large forest tree. The leaves are 2 to 3 inches long and slightly flattened. They are silvery blue to silvery green, curve up from the stem and are soft to the touch. The cones are 2-5 inches long colored an olive green to purple color. They grow upright in the top of the tree.
White Poplar - Poplars do not live very long. It is illegal to plant poplars along streets in some cities because they clog underground drainpipes and sewers. Poplar wood is light whitish/brownish in color. It is soft, light, and fairly weak. The white poplar has leaves that are silvery white, and the bark on the branches is white
.White Spruce - Most spruce needles are four-sided, stiff, and less than one inch long, 2.5 centimeters to be exact. Woody, peglike projections help join the needles to the twigs. Spruce trees grow tall and most are shaped like pyramids. Some grow as tall as one hundred and fifty feet, specifically the white spruce.
Black Spruce - The Black Spruce is a tall tree. It can grow to be twenty-five meters tall. It grows in the taiga biome. As the tree gets older the crown of the tree gets more and more like a spike. The Black Spruce has sharp needles with four sides on them. The needles are blue-green, short, and pointed.
Douglas-Fir - Douglas-firs are very big. They can grow from 40 to 60 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet wide. Because of this they are one of the most important lumber trees in the world.The wood is used as lumber, timbers, and plywood.
Eastern Red Cedar - The Eastern Red Cedar is a small evergreen that commonly grows to a height of 10-50 feet. Its name is misleading since it is a juniper and not a cedar. Its range is from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, and west to the Dakotas and Texas. They can grow in any type of soil, and will take over abandoned fields and fence rows
Jack Pine - The Jack pine usually grows to be twenty-seven meters tall and sixteen and thirty-two centimeter diameter around the trunk. As it grows it gets rounder and rounder around the crown area. The bark of the jack pine is a reddish-brown. The bark is also flat. As the tree gets older the bark gets grayer. The jack pine has needles instead of leaves
Paper Birch - trees have a thin bark that peels in horizontal layers which separates into sheets, almost like paper. Birch trees can grow in pairs or clusters. There are many different types of birch trees and they all grow fairly tall. Both the sweet and paper birch can grow anywhere from sixty to eighty feet high
Siberian Spruce - The Pecia ovobata, or Siberian Spruce, is a tall, perennial needle-leaf tree. The Siberian Spruce is a very beautiful tree that can grow up to about 30 meters high. The trunk of this spruce is about 1.5 meters in diameter. It has slightly drooping branches that make it look like a pyramid
White Fir - The White Fir is 60-100 feet tall and can live up to 300 years making it a very large forest tree. The leaves are 2 to 3 inches long and slightly flattened. They are silvery blue to silvery green, curve up from the stem and are soft to the touch. The cones are 2-5 inches long colored an olive green to purple color. They grow upright in the top of the tree.
White Poplar - Poplars do not live very long. It is illegal to plant poplars along streets in some cities because they clog underground drainpipes and sewers. Poplar wood is light whitish/brownish in color. It is soft, light, and fairly weak. The white poplar has leaves that are silvery white, and the bark on the branches is white
.White Spruce - Most spruce needles are four-sided, stiff, and less than one inch long, 2.5 centimeters to be exact. Woody, peglike projections help join the needles to the twigs. Spruce trees grow tall and most are shaped like pyramids. Some grow as tall as one hundred and fifty feet, specifically the white spruce.