364 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BLUE SPRUCE 

 Colorado Blue Spruce, Silver Spruce. 



Picea Menziesii Engelm. 

 P. Parry ana (Andre) Sarg. ; P. pungens Engelm. 



HABIT A tree reaching- in Colorado a height of 100 ft. and a trunk 

 diameter of 2-3 ft., much smaller in cultivation; branches rigid, horizon- 

 tal with short, stout, stiff, lateral branchlets arranged in horizontal 

 planes giving a layered effect to the tree, especially in the young- 

 stages; older trees becoming less regular with a thin, ragged, pyramidal 

 crown; foliage bluish-green to silvery-white or rarely dull green. 



BARK Grayish-brown, scaly becoming deeply ridged toward the base. 

 TWIGS Bright yellowish to reddish-brown, smooth. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, on strongly projecting 

 decurrent ridges of the bark. BUNDLE-SCARS single. 



LEAVES Bluish-green to silvery-white or rarely dull green, 4-angled, 

 25-30 mm. long on sterile branches, often not over half as long on 

 fruiting branches; stout, stiff, sharp-pointed, incurved, without proper 

 leaf-stalks, with a pungent somewhat disagreeable odor when bruised. 



BUDS Ovate, blunt-pointed, light brown. 



FRUIT Oblong-cylindrical cones 2y 2 to 4 inches long, generally not 

 remaining on the tree after the second winter. SCALES thin, distinctly 

 longer than broad with narrowed, flexible, ragged, blunt tips. 



COMPARISONS The Blue Spruce as cultivated as an ornamental tree 

 is strikingly distinct from other Spruces in its bluish-green or silvery 

 foliage and the horizontally layered arrangement of its branchlets. The 

 long stiff sharp-pointed needles and the narrowed elongated scales of the 

 large cones are further characteristic. 



DISTRIBUTION Along or near streams. Colorado and eastern Utah, 

 northward to the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. Often planted as 

 an ornamental tree in the eastern and northern states and also in 

 Europe, especially individuals with blue foliage. 



WOOD Light, soft, close-grained, weak, pale brown, or often nearly 

 white with hardly distinguishable sapwood. 



