Blue spruce

Description:

Blue spruce is a medium-sized evergreen tree growing to 82–98 ft tall, exceptionally to 151 ft tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 ft in circumference. 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 long, stout, rhombic in cross-section, dull gray-green to bright glaucous blue, with several lines of stomata; the tip is viciously sharp.

Habitat:

It grows at high altitudes from 5,740–9,800 ft, though it does not reach the alpine tree-line. It is most commonly found growing along stream sides in mountain valleys, where moisture levels in the soil are greater than the often low rainfall in the area would suggest.

Notes:

The second photo shows resin sacs - resin used to be harvested from Spruce & used to manufacture pitch.