The trunk is usually tall, straight and tapering, and the branches horizontal, with the lower ones sloping downward.
Bruised leaves have a sharp, unpleasant odor.
The hanging cones are 1 to 2.5 inches long, slender and cylindrical, with thin, tough, light brown, flexible scales with smooth, rounded margins. The thin, smooth, light gray bark on young trees becomes darker and scaly with age. White spruce is the provincial tree of Manitoba. It grows at the Arctic tree line and is native from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to Montana, Minnesota and New York. Hardy from zone 2 to 6, this species can withstand extreme heat and cold and a variety of soil conditions, although it prefers moist, loamy or alluvial soils.