Picea abies, the
Norway spruce, is a species of
spruce native to Central and Eastern
Europe. It grows up to tall, and bears needles long and cones long. It is very closely related to the Siberian spruce,
Picea obovata, which replaces it east of the Ural Mountains, and with which it hybridises freely.
Picea abies is widely planted for its wood, and is the species used as the main
Christmas tree in several cities around the world. It was the first gymnosperm to have its
genome sequenced, and one clone has been measured as 9,550 years old.