silver spruce
- noun
:
pícea plateada
- In the winter, the silver spruce's blue-green needles create a striking contrast against the white snow.
Examples
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When they reached the landing, however, from where they could see the garden, a large arborvitae, a birch, and a silver spruce through a round window that formed a radiant frame (there was a ring of sky-blue water glass in the center), they heard voices.
Fiction book (2000) -
The silver spruce grows tall and majestic, providing shade and beauty in the garden.
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As it matures, the silver spruce develops a dense conical crown, making it a popular choice for landscaping.
Synonyms
A tall evergreen tree with blue-green needles and lower branches that sweep downward
A tall tree with blue-green needles and a cone-shaped form often used in gardens
An evergreen tree with blue green needles and a cone shape, commonly called blue spruce
How Tall
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective+noun composition where 'silver' describes the appearance and 'spruce' names the tree species; a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a spruce with a silvery or blue-green look. This follows a common cross-linguistic pattern of color/quality adjectives modifying nouns, so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Silver spruce gets its name from how it looks: people noticed its pale, shiny silver needles on a tall spruce tree. So the name refers to a spruce with 'blue-green needles' and a narrow, graceful shape.