where …
branchlets droop;  needles=medium (12-24 mm) (½-1 in);  cones=long (10-15 cm) (4-6 in)
🇳🇴 Norway spruce  Picea abies
some branchlets droop, others splay horizontal;  needles=long (20-30 mm) (¾-1¼ in), curving upward, blue-green, | very sharp
◼︎ Colorado blue spruce  Picea pungens or
no branchlets droop :

No branchlets droop

needles=long (15-25 mm) (⅗-1 in);  Pacific Northwest coast
Sitka spruce  Picea sitchensis

needles=medium (>10 mm) (>½ in);  buds and twigs=hairy
◼︎ red spruce  Picea rubens
needles=medium (9-20 mm) (⅜-¾ in);  buds and twigs=hairless
◼︎ white spruce  Picea glauca

needles=short (<10 mm) (<½ in), blunt-pointed;  buds and twigs=hairy
◼︎ black spruce  Picea mariana

Learn more about spruce genus Picea (Picea spp.)

  Part of 🌲︎ cedar / fir / hemlock / larch / pine / spruce  family Pinaceae.

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)

Picea hosts caterpillars of 158 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Gymnosperm database Michigan Flora Minnesota Wildflowers Flora of North America NRCS PLANTS db Wikipedia

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🏠︎ 🌲︎ conifer  order Pinales 🌲︎ conifers with needles arranged singly hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA)  Adelges tsugae

🇳🇴 Norway spruce  Picea abies ◼︎ white spruce  Picea glauca ◼︎ black spruce  Picea mariana ◼︎ Colorado blue spruce  Picea pungens ◼︎ red spruce  Picea rubens Sitka spruce  Picea sitchensis
jack pine  Pinus banksiana
bigtooth aspen  Populus grandidentata quaking aspen  Populus tremuloides