1) The spruce fir is not a native English tree but takes its name from Prussia, a state known in the Middle Ages as Pruce or Spruce. The wood was imported [see pruce] and probably used to make chests, coffers and the like, although such items may themselves have been imported.
1429 lego Johanni de Kyrkby meum sprus kyst, Kippax
1433 unum spruce coffre, York
1485 una cista de spruse, Ripon
1500 ‘the … sprewskyste in the chamber’, Bradford
1519 a spruce ark, Roundhay. Less freqent usage include: 1528 a chest with xv sprewes skynnes, Hull
1549 one spruce counttar, a langsettill, a side burde, Elland
1622 bo[ug]ht me 30 sprusedeale boards, Brandsby.