Norway Spruce Traditional Cache

This Norway Spruce is in Bryant Park. You can usually park along the streets surrounding it, other than Ithaca Rd.

Picea abies, the Norway spruce, is a species spruce native to Northern Central and Eastern Europe. It typically grows to around 55 m (180 ft) tall, and bears needles 12–24 mm (0.47–0.94 in) long and cones 9–17 cm (3.5–6.7 in) long.

Picea abies is widely planted for its wood, and is the species used as the main Christmas tree in several cities around the world.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Every year at Christmas time, a tree is placed in the Rockefeller center in New York City. They look for the largest, most beautiful tree they can find. Year after year there favorite is the Norway Spruce. Its strong branches are able to hold up the thousands of lights and ornaments, and being outside the needles stay on the tree for a long time. The tallest tree ever used was a 100-foot Norway Spruce from Killingworth, Conn. in 1948. After X-mas the tree is cut into lumber and used to build a house. For 2015 the tree was 78 ft tall and 47 ft wide and weighed 10 tons.

The Norway spruce is one of the most widely planted spruces, both in and outside of its native range, and one of the most economically important coniferous species in Europe. It is used as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It is also widely planted for use as a Christmas tree. Every Christmas, the Norwegian capital city, Oslo, provides the cities of New York, London (the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree), Edinburgh and Washington D.C. with a Norway spruce, which is placed at the most central square of each city. This is mainly a sign of gratitude for the aid these countries gave during the Second World War

The tree is the source of spruce beer, which was once used to prevent and even cure scurvy. This high vitamin C content can be consumed as a tea from the shoot tips or even eaten straight from the tree when light green and new in Spring.

It is esteemed as a source of tonewood by stringed-instrument makers. One form of the tree is called Haselfichte (Hazel-spruce) which grows in the European Alps and has been recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. This form was used by Stradivarius for instruments

The cache is a "micro" camoed pill bottle, containing a tiny zip lock plastic bag that holds a rolled log with a rubber band. It's the snap kind of lid. An arrow points to where to push up to open. Please make sure it snaps closed all around when you're done. BYOP and keep the rubber band on your finger while you log. Then remember to put it around the log before it goes back into the bag. No tweezers, please, they kill the plastic.