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Blue Spruce

Picea pungens

Description:

Blue spruce is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 25–30 m (82–98 ft) tall, exceptionally to 46 m (151 ft) tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). The bark is thin and gray, with narrow vertical furrows. 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 millimetres (0.59–1.2 in) 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.[1][2][4] The cones are pendulous, slender cylindrical, 6–11 cm (2.4–4.3 in) long and 2 cm (0.79 in) broad when closed, opening to 4 cm (1.6 in) broad. They have thin, flexible scales 20–24 mm (0.79–0.94 in) 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 (0.12–0.16 in) long, with a slender, 10–13 mm (0.39–0.51 in) long pale brown wing.

Habitat:

Mountain west, USA

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CynthiaMHori
Spotted by
CynthiaMHori

Park City, Utah, USA

Spotted on Dec 16, 2009
Submitted on Feb 18, 2011

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