The blue spruce (Picea pungens) is a coniferous tree from the family Pinaceae. It grows up to 30 m in height and the canopy is wide. The bark is reddish-brown, roughly scaly. The needles are bluish-green, 2-3 cm long, thick, very sharp, curled upwards. The buds are not resinous. Mature cones are oblong-cylindrical, 4-10 cm long, light brown, have longitudinally wrinkled, diamond-shaped scales that are initially reddish-green, later shiny brown. When ripe they fall whole to the ground. The seeds are brown and winged.