Engelmann Spruce Picea engelmannii

Engelmann spruce is a subalpine conifer of the Cascades and Rocky Mountains. In Washington and Oregon it is mostly found east of the Cascade crest in cold, snowy, high-elevation forest, with some in the Olympic Mountains. Subalpine fir is its usual companion; mountain hemlock is a less common one.

The needles are sharp, square in cross-section, and blue-green. Bark is thin, scaly, and grayish-brown. Cones hang downward. Engelmann spruce is ectomycorrhizal; edible partners named for it include rainbow chanterelle and several waxy caps (Hygrophorus) (Siegel & Schwarz, Mushrooms of Cascadia).

Engelmann spruce forests sit above the Douglas-fir and western hemlock zones, with short growing seasons, heavy winter snow, and cool summers. In mixed stands with subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce is the longer-lived species.

On the east side of the Cascades, king boletes (Boletus edulis) fruit with spruce in summer and early fall. Spring kings and burn morels are also found in east-side conifer forests, but neither is a named partner of Engelmann spruce.

Associated Mushrooms

Mushrooms found in subalpine and east-slope Cascade spruce forests. Only some are named partners of Engelmann spruce; the card text says which.

Rainbow Chanterelle

Cantharellus roseocanus

Usually a spruce partner, mostly with Sitka spruce on the coast and only occasionally with Engelmann spruce at higher elevations and east of the Cascades, in late summer and early fall. Look for a pinkish-orange cap and bright peachy-orange gills.

Mycorrhizal Choice Edible

Spring King Bolete

Boletus rex-veris

Fruits in spring, a few weeks after snowmelt, in fir and pine forests on the east side of the Cascades. Spruce is not named as its host; the king bolete (B. edulis) is the porcini that grows with east-side spruce.

Mycorrhizal Choice Edible

Morels

Morchella species

Burn morels fruit in spring in burned conifer forest, including high-elevation burns, but they are not partners of spruce or any other tree. A few natural morels, such as M. norvegiensis, are recorded with conifers including Engelmann spruce.

Choice Edible

Slimy Spike

Gomphidius glutinosus group

Slimy purplish cap and decurrent gills. The name covers at least two PNW species, one in coastal spruce forests and one in higher-elevation mixed conifer forest with Suillus lakei. It grows in association with Suillus and is not recommended for eating.

Parasitic

Photos: Engelmann Spruce — iNaturalist (CC0) · Rainbow Chanterelle — © Michael Tidwell, CC BY · Spring King Bolete — © purplecloud, CC BY-SA · Morels — Kari Moreland (CC0) · Slimy Spike — Drew Meyer (CC0).

Sources: Mushrooms of Cascadia (Siegel & Schwarz, 2024); MycoMatch (© Ian Gibson), a compilation of published descriptions through which most other field-guide authors named here are quoted; iNaturalist observations.