Engelmann Spruce

(Picea engelmannii)

Color Potographs: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii)

Identifying Characters: Engelmann Spruce is characterized by cylindrical cones with elongate, thin, flexible cone scales with pointed apices. The needles are diamond-shaped in cross-section and even arranged around the twig. The overall shape of the tree is cone-shaped with a pointed apex.

Similar Species: Engelmann Spruce in parts of its range may be confused with White Spruce. The needles of White Spruce are concentrated on the upper side of the twig, but are evenly spread around in the twig in Engelmann Spruce. The cone scales of Engelmann Spruce are elongate and pointed at their apices, but those of White Spruce are broadly rounded or truncate.

Measurements: Mature individuals 45 to 130 feet in height with isolated individuals reaching 160 feet; diameter at breast height 1 to 2.5 feet.

Cones: Cones 1.5 to 2.5 inches long, cylindrical, light shiny brown; cone scales elongate, thin, and flexible, pointed and irregularly toothed at the apex.

Needles: Needles 0.5 to 1 inch long; needles arranged evenly about the branch and diamond-shaped in cross-section; dark green or blue-green in color and with an objectionable smell when crushed.

Bark: Gray to (rarely) purple brown, thin, and relatively smooth with loosely attached scales.

Native Range: Engelmann Spruce is widely distributed in the western United States and two provinces in Canada. Its range extends from British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, south through all western states to New Mexico and Arizona.

In the Pacific Northwest, Engelmann Spruce grows along the east slope of the Coast Range from west central British Columbia, south along the crest and east slope of the Cascades through Washington and Oregon to northern California. It is a minor component of these high-elevation forests.

Engelmann Spruce is a major component of the high-elevation Rocky Mountain forests, growing in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Alberta, south through the high mountains of eastern Washington and Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana to western and central Wyoming, and in the high mountains of southern Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, eastern Nevada, New Mexico, and northern Arizona. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Engelmann Spruce is commonly the dominant spruce in the mountain regions of western North America from the subalpine zone up to timberline.