DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Picea rubens | Red Spruce 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Red spruce occurs from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick, west to Maine, southern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario, and
south to central New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, northern New
Jersey, and northeastern Massachusetts.  Its range extends south in the
Appalachian Mountains of extreme western Maryland, eastern West
Virginia, northern and western Virginia, western North Carolina, and
eastern Tennessee [48].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch


STATES : 
     CT  ME  MD  MA  NH  NJ  NY  NC  PA  TN
     VT  VA  WV  NB  NS  PE  PQ


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ACAD  ALPO  BLRI  DEWA  GRSM  SHEN


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K097  Southeastern spruce - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    16  Aspen
    17  Pin cherry
    18  Paper birch
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    24  Hemlock - yellow birch
    25  Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
    27  Sugar maple
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    31  Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    34  Red spruce - Fraser fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white-cedar
    60  Beech - sugar maple
   107  White spruce
   108  Red maple


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Red spruce is a common dominant or codominant in the red spruce and the
spruce-fir forests of the northeastern United States and adjacent
Canada.

Shrub associates of red spruce in the Adirondack Mountains of New York
include red raspberry (Rubus idaeus), dwarfed blackberry (R. pubescens),
hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium), Canada yew (Taxus canadensis), and
American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis).  Ground layer herbs
include wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), Aster acuminatus, yellow
beadlily (Clintonia borealis), and common wood-sorrel (Oxalis montana).
Common bryophytes found in old-growth red spruce forests in the
Adirondacks include Brotherella recurvans, Schreber's moss (Pleurozium
schreberi), Polytrichum ohioense, mountain fern moss (Hylocomium
splendens), Bazzania trilobata, ptilium (Ptilium crista-castrensis),
Drepanocladus uncinatus, Dicranum scoparium, and D. montanum [47].

In the southern Appalachian Mountains, arboreal associates include
Fraser fir (Abies fraseri), yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra), sweet
birch (Betula lenta), and black cherry (Prunus serotina) in addition to
those found in the northern part of its range [59,79,87].  Understory
associates in openings include rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.),
American mountain-ash (Sorbus americana), and wild raisin (Viburnum
cassinoides).  Other understory associates include highbush cranberry
(Viburnum edule), mountain holly (Ilex montana), mountain laurel (Kalmia
latifolia), speckled alder (Alnus rugosa), pin cherry (Prunus
pensylvanica), serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), raspberries (Rubus
spp.), and blueberries and huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.).  In closed
red spruce stands, mosses, lichens, and clubmosses predominate in the
understory along with wood sorrel (Oxalis spp.), trillium (Trillium
spp.), and checkerberry wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) [79].

Publications describing habitat or cover types in which red spruce is
dominant or codominant include:

 (1)  Proceedings of the Region 9 Land Systems conference on the White
        Mountain National Forest [5]
 (2)  The Hubbard Brook ecosystem study: composition and dynamics of the
        tree stratum [11]
 (3)  Ground vegetation patterns of the spruce-fir area of the Great     
        Smoky Mountains National Park [14]
 (4)  Spruce-fir forests of the coast of Maine [16]
 (5)  Forest type studies in the Adirondack region [31]
 (6)  The classification and evaluation of site for forestry [33]
 (7)  The identification and description of forest sites [34]
 (8)  Old-growth forests of Adirondack Park, New York [47]
 (9)  Vegetation-environment relationships in virgin, middle elevation
        forests in the Adirondack Mountains, New York [68]
(10)  Natural ecological communities of New York State [71]

Related categories for Species: Picea rubens | Red Spruce