Colorado spruce (Picea pungens)

Native to the rocky mountains of North America (1500-3500 m), the Colorado spruce is very well adapted to the mountains. It has a stockier appearance than the common spruce, and is more resistant to physiological drought, extreme cold, and excess solar radiation. It is also less susceptible to spruce bark beetle, and is less affected by the parasitic fungi that develop in the snow cover in spring (Phacidium infestans and Herpotrichia nigra). The bluish aspect of some trees is very interesting from an ornamental point of view.