Genus: Picea
Family: Pinaceae
Group/Duration: Gymnosperm/Perennial
Location: P Engelmannii is native to North America and extends from Alberta and British Columbia southward through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Size: The Engelmann Spruce is a large conifer that can grow an amazing 90 feet tall with a diameter of 30 inches. In some parts of Colorado and Wyoming this tree has been found to grow to 120 feet.
Growth: The Engelmann Spruce usually grows above 8500 feet all the way up to the tree line, around 9300-11000 feet. This tree is found in the highest forests in North America. The Engelmann, at its highest elevations, crowns into a krumholz (a low, stunted, mass of twisted mats or shrubs seen to the left) It covers and amazing 10 million acres of the Rocky Mountains. This tree is a slow-grower and can reach ages exceeding 450 years with the oldest recorded tree reaching an age of 911 years. The Engelmann Spruce typically grows in dry, well drained or highly exposed sites. The Engelmann Spruce can also occupy and recolonize burned areas.
Flowers: Male flowers are cylindrical, purple and hanging in the lower crown of the tree. The female flower is cylindrical, red, upright and hangs in the upper crown of the tree.
Seeds/fruit: Seed production happens after about 20 years of growth. The seeds are produced within the cone, which are about 1.5-3 inches long. Seeds are typically carried by the wind. The cones are cylindrical, light shiny brown; cone scales elongate, thin, and flexible, pointed and irregularly toothed at the apex. The cones typically cluster in the upper half or near the top of larger trees.
Other visual characteristics:
Needles: The needles are typically 0.5-1.0 inches long and arranges evenly along the branch. The needles have a diamond cross-section and are dark green or blue-green in color and are blunt or sharp-pointed.
Bark: The bark of the Engelmann Spruce is typically grey in color and typically thin and smooth with loosely attached scales sometimes showing reddish underneath or turning entirely reddish or orange-brown.