Tips for identifying spruce: leaves angular in cross section (except for P. omorika), twigs roughened with persistent leaf bases, pendulous cylindrical cones don't shatter at maturity
Size: tree, 60-100' average height at maturity
Buds: reddish or light brown, not resinous
Leaves: evergreen, radially arranged around top half of stem, .5-1", somewhat flattened to angular, may be stiff and straight or curved, ending in a blunt horny point, dark green with 2-3 lines of stomata on each side
Twigs: glabrous, usually brown, often pendulous
Flowers: monoecious, males axillary, females terminal, reddish pink
Fruit: pendulous cylindrical cones, 4-6" long, 1.5-2" wide
Bark: thin on young trees, thick with small think flaking gray-brown scales when older
