Picea pungens Engelm., Pinaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 1 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Colorado blue spruce, Colorado spruce, blue spruce, silver spruce

French: épinette bleue

Spanish: pino real

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trees to 50m; trunk to 1.5m diameter; crown broadly conic. Bark gray-brown. Branches slightly to strongly drooping; twigs not pendent, stout, yellow-brown, usually glabrous. Buds dark orange-brown, 6-12mm, apex rounded to acute. Leaves 1.6-3cm, 4-angled in cross section, rigid, blue-green, bearing stomates on all surfaces, apex spine-tipped. Seed cones (5-) 6-11 (-12)cm; scales elliptic to diamond-shaped, widest below middle, 15-22 x 10-15mm, rather stiff, margin at apex erose, apex extending 8-10mm beyond seed-wing impression"  (Flora of North America online).

Habitat/ecology:  In the United States (native), "midmontane forests; 1800-3000m"  (Flora of North America online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Rocky Mountains in the United States (GRIN); widely planted as an ornamental tree in temperate climates.

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 49)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canada Canada	Canada	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013) Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Control:  If you know of control methods for Picea pungens, please let us know.