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September 24, 2007 : Picea engelmannii subsp. engelmannii
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Keywords: Pinaceae | Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm. | Peyto Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
The high elevation subalpine and montane forests of the Rocky Mountains often have Engelmann spruce as a major tree species in their composition. A distribution map illustrating the broad western North American distribution can be viewed via the USDA Forest Service's Silvics of North America entry on Picea engelmannii. Note that Engelmann spruce can also be found within the Coast-Cascade Mountains and some of the high-elevation areas between the two mountainous belts.
A second subspecies of Picea engelmannii is recognized, subspecies mexicana. It is known from populations in Mexico and (some say) the Chiricahua Mountains. The Gymnosperm Database's entry on Picea engelmannii suggests that subspecies mexicana is found in the USA, while the Flora of North America concludes otherwise.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at September 24, 2007 6:19 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Cyndy Henderson at September 24, 2007 7:29 AM
Hmm. Nice cone crop. When was this picture taken?
Wonder who eats 'em.
It's a thrill to see the snow flying in this picture. Here in Vermont the color is getting intense. Skeins of Canada Goose went honking towards their staging areas on Lake Champlain this morning. The bite of winter gathers power over the muskeg. Soon it will mount the North Wind and ride to our door!
Posted by: George L. 
at September 24, 2007 7:45 AM
The photograph was taken 3 days ago...
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin at September 24, 2007 8:45 AM
"The Gymnosperm Database's entry on Picea engelmannii suggests that subspecies mexicana is found in the USA, while the Flora of North America concludes otherwise"
There's conflicting information on this, perhaps somewhat surprisingly from the same author (R. J. Taylor) of the FNA account. In Biosystematics of Mexican Spruce Species and Populations (Taxon 29: 421-440, 1980) he (with T. F. Patterson) examines a wide range of characters and concludes "Finally, the Chiricahua population should be placed in variety mexicana for reasons discussed in this paper" (p.438).
Given that Chiricahua is a widely recognised outpost of Mexican Madrean Sky Island flora, its placement in subsp. mexicana is certainly reasonable, even to be expected.
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"Wonder who eats 'em" - Crossbills, Siskins.
Posted by: Michael F at September 24, 2007 8:59 AM
wonderful picture and snow
i used to live in north land and now here
in florida central west coast i wait for
our snow birds of all kinds to arrive
for the winter i do miss the coluors
of new england- snow!-its ninety here today
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at September 24, 2007 9:32 AM
Check out Ron Pittaway's winter finch forecast http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Mail/Ontario_Birds/126114
for wild food crops correlated with irruptive bird movements for the NE part of continent. Anyone know of other sites that correlate wild food cropping with wildlife/bird movements/abundance in North America?
Posted by: George L. at September 24, 2007 10:27 AM
Fascinating site, thanks George! Wish there was a similar info source over here - getting details of cone crops in Scandinavia and Russia is sadly impossible though.
Posted by: Michael F at September 24, 2007 4:20 PM
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Majestic tree ~ spectacular photo to view with my morning coffee!