Many people often confuse spruce and pine, not understanding the special difference between these two trees: with an inattentive glance, you really can not distinguish one plant from another, but in fact there are differences, and therefore it is worthwhile to compare the two trees.
Description of spruce and pine
Both trees belong to the evergreen, coniferous and pine species of trees, and both the tree has cones. This is all that two plants are alike. They have much more differences.
What is the difference between pine and spruce
The differences between these two breeds can be described in several categories:
- size and height;
- the size of the cones;
- the shape and type of needles;
- life expectancy;
- type of root system;
- color;
- application in industry.
Tree size and height
Spruce grows only up to 50 m. Pine trees grow by 75 m, and some even taller and more. The trunk of the pine tree is much thicker and stronger.
Did you know? Spruce, which is more than 9 thousand years old, sprouts in Sweden. It is considered the oldest plant in the world at the moment.
Bump size
The fir cones are loose, long. The scales are oval. Size up to 15 cm. The second tree has cone-shaped cones, the size of which reaches 6 cm. The scales are trihedral, dense.
Needles shape
Spruce needles are sharp, dense, very small, only up to 2 cm. This tree consists of single needles, seed and branches. The pine has a long, rare needles, up to 4 cm, two needles in a bunch.
Life span
The Christmas tree lives up to 400 years. Apart from individual species whose duration is lower. The life of the second coniferous lasts up to 300 years, without taking into account some species, the duration of which is longer due to the characteristics of the territory and soil.
Root system
At the tree, the roots go shallow underground, because it is unstable. Often the root system peeps out of the ground. The pine tree has a powerful, large main root, goes deep into the ground and holds the whole tree even in bad weather conditions.
Color
The tree has white and yellow wood. The needles are dark green. In the second conifer, the wood changes color with light yellow to red-brown with age. Green needles.
Important! Despite the fact that spruce is significantly inferior to pine in its properties, elegant and unique musical instruments and paper are made of it.
What is the tree of spruce and pine
Spruce because of its knotty use for internal work. It is poorly impregnated with special solutions for processing and absorbs too much water. In pine, the wood is soft, but strong and pliable, it is used for any kind of work. Smooth, straight, susceptible to processing, which allows products from it to look better than from other types of wood materials. Resistant to decay, valuable in the manufacture of furniture.
It is used in pharmaceutical activities. In fact, these two plants have more differences than similar traits, but some are still confused: because of cones, needles and a similar color. However, both plants are used in the construction and medical industries, which greatly facilitates life and brings more natural materials into it.
