Picea pungens Engelm., Pinaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 1 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: blue spruce, Colorado blue spruce, Colorado spruce, silver spruce

French: épinette bleue

Spanish: pino real

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Trees to 50m; trunk to 1.5m diameter; crown broadly conic. Bark gray-brown. Branches slightly to strongly drooping; twigs not pendent, stout, yellow-brown, usually glabrous. Buds dark orange-brown, 6-12mm, apex rounded to acute. Leaves 1.6-3cm, 4-angled in cross section, rigid, blue-green, bearing stomates on all surfaces, apex spine-tipped. Seed cones (5-) 6-11 (-12)cm; scales elliptic to diamond-shaped, widest below middle, 15-22 x 10-15mm, rather stiff, margin at apex erose, apex extending 8-10mm beyond seed-wing impression"  (Flora of North America online).

Habitat/ecology:  In the United States (native), "midmontane forests; 1800-3000m"  (Flora of North America online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Rocky Mountains in the United States (GRIN); widely planted as an ornamental tree in temperate climates.

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 49)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming

Additional information:
Information from the USDA Forest Service Fire Effects Information System.

Additional online information about Picea pungens is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Picea pungens as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Picea pungens may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2011. Flora of North America North of Mexico (online edition).

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.