Colorado spruce -- Picea pungens

Pronunciation: pie’-see-a pun’-jenz

Leaves: Single, linear, 4-sided (square cross section - can be rolled between your fingers), sharp-pointed, ¾” - 1 ¼”, persistent (7-10 years), dull blue-green or blueish, whitish lines (white bloom can be rubbed off), pungent odor when crushed, leaves sit on sterigmata (pegs), angled on branch at 90 degrees spiraling all around the stem. Needles are sharp and stiff (can be snapped in two when bent)

Cones: 2 ½” - 4” long, cylindrical, light brown, scales long and narrow, flexible and spreading, sessile or short stalked, papery with irregular edges and are slightly notched, no prickles

Bark: Young: flaky scales gray to reddish-brown

Old: purplish gray-brown, thick furrowed with round ridges

Twig: Stout; Glabrous new growth (smooth, no hairs), yellow-brown, sterigmata remain on stem after leaves fall off

Bud: Rounded tip, bud scales peel back like a rosette toward the winter, golden tan color, ¼” - ½” long

Habit/Form: Pyramidal, spire-like, 60’ tall, shallow root system. Found in foothills and montane areas

Other:

-6,000’ - 9,000’ (northern Rockies)

-8,000’ - 11,000’ (southern Rockies)

-N.W. Wyoming to south central New Mexico, S.E. Idaho to S.E. Arizona, mostly in Colorado

-Usually in pure stands

Intermediate shade tolerance (similar to Douglas-fir) more tolerant than ponderosa, lodgepole, juniper, less tolerant than Engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir

-Typically found in cool moist environments

-Highly prized ornamental - many cultivars