PINAGEAE 



Engelmann Spruce 

 Picea engelmannii Parry 



HABIT. A tree 60-120 feet high and P/i-S feet in diameter 

 (max. 165 by 5 feet); bole long but limby, cylindrical; crown 

 compact, somewhat scraggly, narrowly pyramidal, with short, 

 whorled branches. A prostrate shrub at high elevations. 



LEAVES. Tending to be crowded on the upper side of the 

 branch by the curving of those on the lower side; 1-1 V& inches 

 long; 4-angled; blue-green, occasionally with whitish, glaucous 

 bloom; blunt or acute tips (not very sharp to touch); flexible; 

 no resin ducts in cross section. 



FLOWERS. Male dark purple; female bright scarlet. 



FRUIT. l-2Vi inches long; oblong-cylindrical; sessile or 

 short-stalked; cone scales flexible, variable in outline and erose- 

 dentate at apex; light chestnut-brown; falling during autumn 

 or winter of first season. Seed: Yq inch long, nearly black; broad, 

 oblique wing J/^ inch long. 



TWIGS. Minutely pubescent (visible with hand lens); rather 

 stout; orange-brown to gray-brown. Winter buds: V^-Va inch 

 long; broadly ovoid to conic; pale chestnut-brown; but scales 

 usually appressed. 



BARK. Thin, Va-Vz inch thick; cinnamon-red to purple- 

 brown; broken into large, thin, loosely attached scales. 



WOOD. Properties similar to white spruce; this is the longest- 

 fibered and lightest weight spruce, but at present not widely 

 used because inaccessible; lumber, telephone poles, railroad 

 ties, mine timbers, and fuel. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Tolerant and recovering well 

 from prolonged suppression; growth generally rather slow be- 

 cause of short summer season; a long-lived tree, reaching ages 

 of 350-500 or more years; reproduction abundant and vigorous; 

 shallow, spreading root system. 



HABITAT. Hudsonian and Canadian zones; varying from 

 1,500-S,000 feet in the northern Rockies to 10,000-12,000 feet 

 in the southern Rockies; rich, loamy soils with abundance of 

 moisture; in pure stands or in mixture with alpine fir, lodge- 

 pole pine, and other conifers growing at high elevations. 



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