Colorado Blue Spruce
Picea pungens

Family: Pine (Pinaceae)
AKA: Blue Spruce
Photo taken on: July 04, 2007
Location: Poverty Gulch, GV, CO
Life Zones: Foothills to subalpine
Habitat: Moist slopes, beside streams

Grows to 100ft. Bark on mature trees is gray and furrowed.  Needles are very sharp. New growth is blue-green. All blue trees sold as ornamentals are bred for their color; this does not occur in the wild.

It can be confused with Engelmann Spruce. Cones are up to 4" long and are a pale tan in color. The cones of Engelmann Spruce are less than 2" long and dark tan, as can be seen in the picture below.

Flora of North America reference.