The Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is a coniferous evergreen, typically up to 70 meters tall and two meters in diameter, but can get as high as 100 meters tall. It is the largest spruce, as well as the fifth largest tree in the world, and the third largest conifer. It is immediately characterized by the branches with spirally-arranged needles that are stiff and very sharp. They can get up to three centimeters long, and have two lines of stomata on the upper surface of the needle. The needles themselves are flattened yet four-sided. It produces bright red pollen cones, up to eight centimeters long, with irregular, wavy and thin scales.
