Norway spruce retains lower foliage longer than do either the blue or white spruce. The dark green foliage is quite handsome and resistant to spruce mite. White spruce is a native tree of the lake states and the New England region and extends north to the Canadian tundra. The needles are blue to light green and sometimes nearly white. Foliage is not as sharp as blue spruce and has a striking, pungent odor when crushed.
Leaves diverge from the stem at nearly right angles but in a flatter arrangement.
Viewed from the end of the stem, the foliage is more semicircular than circular. Scales on terminal winter buds are rounded and emarginate at the tips. White spruce are planted in Ohio for screens and windbreaks. In addition, the white spruce is both grown and shipped into Ohio as Christmas trees. Foliage does not hold as well when cut as do the firs and the blue spruce.