Burke: Picea engelmannii vs. Picea sitchensis

	Picea engelmannii	Picea sitchensis
	Engelmann's spruce	Sitka spruce
Habit	Straight, spire-like trees up to 50 m. tall, the trunk up to 1 m. thick	A large tree up to 70 m. tall, the bole up to 5 m. in diameter.
Bark	Bark rather thin, scaly, brownish-red to purplish; young twigs usually finely pubescent, often glabrous.	Bark very thin, gray-brown to grayish-purple, deciduous in small scales; twigs glabrous.
Leaves	Needles fairly sharp but not stiff, 2-3 cm. long, deep bluish-green, spreading in all directions from the branch, 4-angled, with two whitish lines on both surfaces, attached to a raised base.	Needles light green to bluish-green, stiff and sharp, spreading in all directions from the branch, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, flattened, with 2 broad white bands on the upper surface and 2 narrow bands on the lower surface, attached to a raised base.
Cones		Staminate cones pendant, red, 10-15 mm. long; ovulate cones 6-9 cm. long, reddish-brown to yellowish-brown, the scales rounded, finely denticulate, rather stiff, the bracts lanceolate, much shorter than the scales and concealed; ovulate cones deciduous as a whole after one season.

	Picea engelmannii	Picea sitchensis
Identification notes	Staminate cones pendant, yellow, 10-15 mm. long; ovulate cones 4-5 cm. long, yellow-brown to purplish-brown, the scales finely denticulate, more than twice as long as the oblong bracts and completely concealing them; ovulate cones deciduous as a whole after one season.
Habitat	Moderate to high elevations in the mountains, mostly where somewhat moist.	Along the coast, from sea level up to about 2,000 feet in moist valleys.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. ×albertiana, P. sitchensis	P. ×albertiana, P. engelmannii
Subordinate taxa	P. engelmannii var. engelmannii
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Picea sitchensis

Engelmann's spruce

Sitka spruce

Habit

Straight, spire-like trees up to 50 m. tall, the trunk up to 1 m. thick

A large tree up to 70 m. tall, the bole up to 5 m. in diameter.

Bark

Bark rather thin, scaly, brownish-red to purplish; young twigs usually finely pubescent, often glabrous.

Bark very thin, gray-brown to grayish-purple, deciduous in small scales;

twigs glabrous.

Leaves

Needles fairly sharp but not stiff, 2-3 cm. long, deep bluish-green, spreading in all directions from the branch, 4-angled, with two whitish lines on both surfaces, attached to a raised base.

Needles light green to bluish-green, stiff and sharp, spreading in all directions from the branch, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, flattened, with 2 broad white bands on the upper surface and 2 narrow bands on the lower surface, attached to a raised base.

Cones

Staminate cones pendant, red, 10-15 mm. long; ovulate cones 6-9 cm. long, reddish-brown to yellowish-brown, the scales rounded, finely denticulate, rather stiff, the bracts lanceolate, much shorter than the scales and concealed; ovulate cones deciduous as a whole after one season.

Picea engelmannii

Picea sitchensis

Identification notes

Staminate cones pendant, yellow, 10-15 mm. long; ovulate cones 4-5 cm. long, yellow-brown to purplish-brown, the scales finely denticulate, more than twice as long as the oblong bracts and completely concealing them; ovulate cones deciduous as a whole after one season.

Habitat

Moderate to high elevations in the mountains, mostly where somewhat moist.

Along the coast, from sea level up to about 2,000 feet in moist valleys.

Distribution