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Spruce (genus Picea) is a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the earth.[3]

Wandlore[]

Unskilled wandmakers called spruce a difficult wood, but in doing so they revealed their own ineptitude; it was quite true that it required particular deftness to work with spruce, which produced wands that were ill-matched with cautious or nervous natures, becoming positively dangerous in fumbling fingers.[2]

The spruce wand required a firm hand, because it often appeared to have its own ideas about what magic it ought to be called upon to produce. However, when a spruce wand met its match - which, in Garrick Ollivander's experience, was a bold spell-caster with a good sense of humour - it became a superb helper, intensely loyal to their owners and capable of producing particularly flamboyant and dramatic effects.[2]

History[]

During the Attack of the Killer Forest in 1809, during the 1809 Quidditch World Cup, Niko Nenad was killed by a particularly violent spruce.[1]

Etymology[]

The word "spruce" entered the English language from Old French pruce, the name of Prussia. Spruce was a generic term for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants and the tree was believed to have come from Prussia. According to a different theory, some suggest that it may however be a direct loanword from a Polish expression drzewo/drewno z Prus which literally means "tree/timber from Prussia". That would suggest that the late medieval Polish-speaking merchants would import the timber to England and the English would pick up the expression from them.[3]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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