12 BULLETIN 327, 17. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
IVj c). 1 A cross section of the leaf shows no resin ducts. A dis- 
agreeable odor 2 is emitted by young leaves and young shoots when 
crushed. The twigs are more or less minutely hairy and remain 
so for about 3 years. 
The cones, which mature in a single season, are ripe by the middle 
or latter part of August. Most of them are borne near the top of 
the crown. By October the seed is usually all shed. Cones (PL IV) 
vary greatly in length from about 1 to nearly 3 inches, the usual 
length being about 1J inches. The cone scales also are very variable 
in outline. They are commonly narrowed to squarish ends; some- 
times, however, the ends of the scales are pointed, and occasionally 
rounded. 3 TThen mature, and shortly after shedding their seeds, 
the cones are somewhat shiny, and vary in color from light brown 
to dark cinnamon-brown. They fall from the trees during autumn 
or early winter. The small winged seeds (PL IV, a) are blackish- 
brown. The seed-leaves are usually 6 (PL IV, h). 
The wood of Engelmann spruce has thin layers of growth, is soft, 
straight-grained, and of a very light yellowish to faintly reddish- 
brown color. The sapwood is comparatively thick and as a rule only 
a trifle lighter in color than the heartwood. The wood is lighter in 
weight than that of any other native spruce, a cubic foot of seasoned 
wood weighing about 21-J- pounds. Engelmann spruce is cut exten- 
sively for lumber, which is used for general construction and to some 
extent locally for interior finish. The timber is also much used for 
temporary or light-traffic ties, telephone and telegraph poles, mine 
props, fuel, house logs, and corral poles. 
OCCTEBEXCE AHD HABITS. 
This species is essentially a tree of high altitudes (Map No. 3). 
Demand for soil moisture limits its occurrence to high elevations or 
to land moist from springs, seepage, or overflow. The lower range of 
Engelmann spruce is confined to moist canyons or to protected north 
slopes, while on other exposures it finds sufficient soil moisture only 
at higher altitudes. Owing to lower temperatures and less intense 
light in the Xorth, favorable moisture conditions occur there at lower 
elevations than in the South, hence, in general, the gradual lowering 
1 Occasionally trees have exceptionally flat leaves -with distinctly slender, keen points, 
in the latter character closely resembling lower-branch leaves of Picea parryana. The 
presence, however, of minute hairs on the twigs serves to distinguish this form from the 
blue spruce, which has smooth twigs. 
2 The odor is somewhat like that described for white spruce, but very much less 
pronounced. 
3 Picea columbiana Lemmon (Gard. & For., X. 183, 1S97) appears to be based upon the 
northern form of Picea engelmanni, in which the cone scales are aften more or less 
rounded at their ends. This form of Engelmann spruce is the one occurring commonly in 
Montana, Idaho., and British Columbia. Cone scales of Engelmann spruce growing in the 
central and southern Rocky Mountain States generally have squarish ends. 
