Starting with a softball

Yesterday my wife and I went out for a walk in beautiful Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, MA.  I asked her to pick a tree or plant for me to ID, ideally one that was labeled so we could check if I was correct.   She threw me a softball and pointed out this nice looking tree:

I said, "Easy, it's a Blue Spruce!"
She countered with, "Are you sure?"

My confidence waned as I opened the small dichotomous key guidebook I had with me- there were only five spruce species listed and "Blue" wasn't one of them (not super surprising as the key is only 64 pages). I made a note to myself that I should stop by the library to pick up a more thorough guide.

I looked at the silvery-blue needles, which were short, 4-sided (as opposed to flat), and very sharp:

My wife found a pinecone, which was small and had spines:

The key led me to Colorado Spruce, Picea pungens.  The tag confirmed, and a quick Wikipedia search let me know that this tree is also known as the "Blue Spruce".



To sum up:

Plant, animal, mineral:  Plant
Name:  Colorado (Blue) Spruce, Picea Pungens
Coordinates:  42.293896,-71.108636
Location:  Jamaica Plain, MA

Sources:  Tree Finder: a Manual for the Identification of Trees by Their Leaves, Wikipedia