Picea × lutzii Little

Picea × lutzii was described in 1953 to cover hybrids between P. sitchensis and P. glauca. The latter is typically associated with interior forests but it extends to the coast in southern Alaska and northern British Columbia where it overlaps with the exclusively maritime P. sitchensis, resulting in hybrid populations (Taylor 1993). Hybrids resemble P. sitchensis in overall aspect, but never attain such enormous sizes, and although the leaves are acute-tipped they typically lack the prickly texture of P. sitchensis. The hybrid is named for Harold John Lutz, a soil scientist who briefly worked in Alaska and would collect what would become the type material for this hybrid.

This is not a commonly cultivated tree. In New Trees it was described as ‘probably little more than a collector’s curiosity’ (Grimshaw & Bayton 2009) but hybrid vigour and its associated potential have attracted researchers from the productive forestry sector. Indeed, Picea × lutzii is one of nine conifers that recent research has identified as offering a viable alternative to P. sitchensis on certain sites under certain conditions in the UK (Savill et al 2017 QJF; Stokes, Jinks & Kerr 2023). Still, this spruce remains seldom planted, and a specimen at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh which gained a passing mention in New Trees has since been lost (Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 2025). The largest still growing in the UK and Ireland is a tree at Vivod, north Wales, which in 2023 was 28 m tall × 73 cm dbh (Tree Register 2025). Along with species such as Larix sibirica, Picea abies, Picea glauca and Pinus sylvestris, this was one of several conifers recommended for planting in milder parts of southwestern Greenland in the early 2000s (Ødum 2003). It is also cultivated at Arboretum Mustila in southern Finland (Arboretum Mustila 2025).