The Sgerm Spruce – the tallest native European tree?

[Will Blozan]

Michael,

It is possible but unlikely. The tree is nearly stagnant in height growth and being hyper-emergent it simply has no need to get significantly taller. The tallest neighboring pine (165') has fallen and most of the dominant hemlocks have now died. Exposure is extreme aside from the topography of where it grows. My hunch is the wounds from the hurricane damage will fail as the reiterated tops grow ever-so-slowly larger. There has been no measurable increase in height since 2008.

Will

[Michael J Spraggon]

It's a shame but that's life - it's tough at the top.

Michael

[KoutaR]

I visited the tallest native European tree, Sgerm Spruce, again on September 2019 with my friend Thomas. My measurement with TruPulse 200X laser on stativ gave now 62.7 m (206 ft). Although I tried to do the measurement as carefully as I can using about an hour for it, I admit my laser measurement is not as accurate as Michael's tape measurement in 2012. However, I am sure the tree has grown a bit. Additionally, this time I was able to define the mid-slope point with laser, whereas in 2012 we had no other option than to estimate visually a horizontal line from the up-slope side to the opposite side. Actually my measurement was 62.69 m but in my opinion tree measurements should not be given to 1 cm: it gives a false impression about the accuracy as defining the ground level and particuarly the mid-slope point causes an inaccuracy much more than 1 cm.

Another very tall spruce grows over the creek just a few tens of meters from the record spruce. It was 57.8 m (190 ft) tall.

Measurements and photos can be seen here:
https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/svn/ ... vakmetija/

Kouta

[dbhguru]

Kouta,

Thanks for bringing us up to date on this impressive specimen. Have you had a chance to profile the heights of the Norway spruce over its natural range?

Bob

[KoutaR]

Bob,

That's one think I am planning to do in the future, as Norway spruce is not only our tallest native tree species but also one of the most well-known.

Map with Norway spruce heigth data on Monumentaltrees:
https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/map/ ... wayspruce/
Select Coloring: Height (exact measurements only), upper left

Norway spruce has two main sub-ranges: 1) one very large in boreal region south to northeastern Poland, and 2) another in the mountains of central and southeastern Europe. If Europe's forests were in their natural conditions, I suppose Norway spruce would reach about 60 m in much of sub-range 2. In drier eastern areas (like Romania and Bulgaria) perhaps only about 55 m. In southernmost part of the sub-range 1 (like north Poland and south Sweden) the max height would be about 50 m, in southern Finland about 45 m.

Kouta