Picea engelmannii

Engelmann spruce is a member of the pine or Pinaceae family and is native to western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta, southwest to northern California and southeast to Arizona and New Mexico. It grows in the colder interior areas from 900 m in elevation up to the tree line, especially covering a large portion of central and southern British Columbia, reaching up to 40 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter.

Its range overlaps with Sitka spruce (P. sitchensis), white spruce (P. glauca) and Colorado spruce (P. pungens) and it hybridizes with them in these overlap zones.

A Mexican subspecies, P. engelmannii ssp. mexicana occurs in 2 isolated pockets in northern Mexico.

• Leaves are needle-like, 15–25 mm long, sharp pointed, with a square cross-section, spiraling around the twig. Needles are on short, woody pegs (sterigmata, or pulvini).
• Cones are pendulous, non-fragmenting, cylindrical, 3–7 cm long, scales diamond-shaped to round, widest above the middle, yellowish brown, with somewhat wavy teeth on the scales.
• Bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5–10 cm across.