Everything about Blue Spruce totally explained
Picea pungens (
Colorado Blue Spruce or
Blue Spruce) is a species of
spruce native to western
North America, from southeast
Idaho and southwest
Wyoming, south through
Utah and
Colorado to
Arizona and
New Mexico. It grows at high altitudes from 1,750-3,000 m altitude, though unlike
Engelmann Spruce in the same area, it doesn't reach the
alpine tree-line. It is most commonly found growing along streamsides in mountain valleys, where moisture levels in the soil are greater than the often low rainfall in the area would suggest.
It is a medium-sized
evergreen tree growing to 25-30 m tall, exceptionally to 46 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m. The
bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5-10 cm across. The crown is conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees. The shoots are stout, orange-brown, usually glabrous, and with prominent pulvini. The
leaves are needle-like, 15-30 mm long, stout, rhombic in cross-section, dull gray-green to bright glaucous blue (very variable from tree to tree in wild populations), with several lines of
stomata; the tip is viciously sharp.
The
cones are pendulous, slender cylindrical, 6-11 cm long and 2 cm broad when closed, opening to 4 cm broad. They have thin, flexible scales 20-24 mm long, with a wavy margin. They are reddish to violet, maturing pale brown 5-7 months after pollination. The
seeds are black, 3-4 mm long, with a slender, 10-13 mm long pale brown wing.
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