Picea engelmannii, with the common names Engelmann spruce, mountain spruce,

Description

Picea engelmannii is a medium-sized to large evergreen tree growing to tall, exceptionally to tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to . The reddish bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates across. The crown is narrow conic in young trees, becoming cylindric in older trees. The shoots are buff-brown to orange-brown, usually densely pubescent, and with prominent pulvini. The leaves are needle-like, long, flexible,

For exposed trees, the availability of soil water may be critical in late winter, when transpirational demands increase. Cuticular damage by windblown ice is probably more important at the tree line, but damage caused by desiccation is likely to be more important at lower elevations.

  • Picea engelmannii subsp. engelmannii (Engelmann spruce). All of the range except as below.
  • Picea engelmannii subsp. mexicana (Mexican spruce). Two isolated populations on high mountains in northern Mexico, on the Sierra del Carmen in Coahuila (Sierra Madre Oriental) and on Cerro Mohinora in Chihuahua (Sierra Madre Occidental). Engelmann spruces of the Madrean sky islands mountains in the extreme southeast of Arizona and southwest of New Mexico also probably belong to this subspecies, though this is disputed.

The Engelmann spruce hybridises and intergrades extensively with the closely related white spruce

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References

Further reading

  • The Gymnosperm Database
  • US Forest Service: Fire Effects Information System
  • Little, Elbert L. (1980), National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees: Western Region
  • Jepson Manual Treatment
  • Arboretum de Villardebelle – Photographs related spruce cones
  • CalPhotos