Picea pungens 'Brynek' is an exceptionally compact, globose selection of Colorado spruce with extremely prickly, thick steel-blue needles and extraordinarily fleshy branchlets. After 10 years of growth, a mature specimen will be 14 inches (35 cm) tall and wide, a growth rate of 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 - 3.5 cm) per year. Its unique color and structure make it well worth the effort to seek it out for a collection of xeric conifers.
This cultivar originated as a seedling selected in 1983 by SŠ‚awomir Skórka, Warsaw, Poland from seed he collected from specimens of Picea pungens 'Glauca' in Poland's Brynek forest district. He suspects that this particular seedling is a tetraploid, a genetic mutation.
