Picea × lutzii

Picea × lutzii is a hybrid spruce tree that is a natural cross between white spruce and Sitka spruce occurring where the ranges of the two species overlap in coastal south-central Alaska and coastal British Columbia. Its common name is Lutz spruce. Its morphology is intermediate between the two parent species, the maritime Sitka spruce and the white spruce of dryer climates further inland. In addition to the parent spruces it shares its ecosystem with Tsuga heterophylla and T. mertensiana. The tree was named for Harold John Lutz, a scientist who specialized in forest soils and worked briefly for the United States Forest Service in Alaska where he collected the material used to describe the hybrid. A Lutz spruce from Alaska's Chugach National Forest was selected in 2015 for the Capitol Christmas Tree. This is the first Capitol Tree that has come from the state of Alaska. Lutz's spruce grows as tall as 30 meters in height, and it is a generally symmetrical tree with open and downward bo......read more on Wikipedia.