Picea meyeri

Meyer’s spruce is a member of the pine or Pinaceae family and is native to Inner Mongolia and to Shanxi, Hebei and Shaanxi in China. It is closely related to dragon spruce (P. asperata) from western China. It can reach up to 30 m tall.

• Leaves are needle-like, rhombic (4 sides all equal length), 13–25 mm long, sharp-pointed, bluish green with distinct stomata lines; needles are on short, stout pegs (sterigmata, or pulvini).
• Cones are pendulous, non-fragmenting, cylindric, 7–11cm long and 3 cm across, pale brown, with stiff, smoothly rounded scales.
• Bark smooth and brown on young trees, turning gray-brown, peeling off in thin scales; on old trees, it is black-grey, rough and scaly.
• It is increasingly popular in the eastern United States where it is used to replace Colorado blue spruce (P. pungens), which is more disease-prone in the humid climate.