Tree · Pinaceae
Engelmann spruce
Picea engelmannii
Engelmann spruce is recorded as native to 11 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 137 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Engelmann spruce at a glance
- Native in
- 137 counties, across 11 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 2a PLANTS minimum temperature −50°F
- Mature height
- 120 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 2a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −50°F; zone 2a winters bottom out at −50°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Engelmann spruce is recorded as native to 11 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 137 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 137 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 5 counties
- California 3 counties
- Colorado 18 counties
- Idaho 15 counties
- Montana 6 counties
- Nevada 3 counties
- New Mexico 9 counties
- Oregon 18 counties
- Utah 29 counties
- Washington 16 counties
- Wyoming 15 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 120 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Conical
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 21 to 160 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 20 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −50°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 2a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 30
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- Yes
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Pinaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PIEN
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Picea engelmannii (PLANTS symbol PIEN).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources