Exotic Wood spruce,

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SPRUCE

Picea spp.
Picea spp. of the family Pinaceae, the pine family

Famous for one of its members being used in the Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" seaplane, Woods commonly called spruce are from the genus Picea which consists of 40 to 50 species that grow mostly in North America, Europe, and Asia. There are several well known varieties (a few of which are represented below) with dozens of common names, and I will sort this out further at some point.

I used to comment here that spruce was famous for being the wood Howard Hughes used to build the "Spruce Goose" of aviation fame (or infamy, depending on how you look at it) but alert reader Gabriel Sroka pointed out to me that the name was just a derisive one used to mock Hughes and the plane, which was actually built from baltic birch.

my samples:

both sides of a spruce sample plank (note: the plank is spliced, thus the odd pattern on the end grain and the line about 1/3rd of the way down the face)

end grain and end grain closeup of the sample plank directly above

both sides and both ends of a Norway spruce sample piece

end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- color has a vague hint of yellow-green that should not be there --- the wood is almost white, as is correctly represented in the pics directly above.

web pics