Compare Picea alpestris at the link below. This is usually treated as a synonym of P. abies, but seems just as distinct as several widely accepted Asian spruces.

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea cones

The cones do look very similar but that may be the only relevant chacteristic!

Here's some pics.

'07 cones much smaller.....likely due to exceptional drought.
{{gwi:655373}}

Full view of specimen.
{{gwi:655374}}

Branch from basal sprout of previous pic.
{{gwi:655375}}

Looks like it's one of the rigid and spiny ones.

Looks to me like it (tree shape) have Norway and Serbian characteristics with breweriana possible too.

Of course I have no idea.

Dax

I would have guessed Picea rubens based on the whole tree shot, but my second guess with the cones is Picea koyamai?

Serbian and Siskiyou spruces have flatter needles without wicked spines on the tips.

I'm sticking with Picea alpestris.

If you want to avoid controversy, go with the flow on this and call it Picea abies.

Resin

Certainly not omorika,breweriana,rubens or koyamai.

Maybe martinezii ?

No, wrong scale shape & structure for P. martinezii. And as it was only discovered in the 1980s, there's none anything like that size in cultivation.

Resin

Picea polita (syn. torano)?

Nope, cones too large (P. torano cones are only about half the length of the ones in the top photo), and again, subtly the wrong scale shape.

Resin

At a distance, it looks like Picea rubens....I totally agree!....cones appear to be Picea alpestris...yes they do!...A quick grasp of a branch might leave you 'Holding a Tiger Tail'...the needles are very rigid(stiff) but not as piercing as P. chihuahuana.

Here's a nearby seedling(s)...needles quite stiff even for such a tiny plant(s)
{{gwi:655376}}

Seems like this tree could be a source of exasperatation. Not sure it's gotten to that point, however.

Strange, have you a possibility to sending to me some scion for grafting or some (2/3) seedlings ??
Clément.

"have you a possibility to sending to me some scion for grafting or some (2/3) seedlings ??"

Not from the USA to Europe! Â Live foliage and plants of Pinaceae species are not permitted entry into the EU from North America.

Resin

clement....Hopefully I can collect and share seeds in Fall '08

I don't have much experience w/spruces -- Norway spruce is the only local one that occurs in numbers w/alot of older specimens. Your pictured one doesn't look much different (other than the sharpened needles) than a N spruce -- certainly quite handsome.

Is it a Eurasian native?

Yes 'it' is assuredly from somewhere in that vast landscape across the big pond!...Here's a nearby Norway at the other end of the spectrum.... a pendulus type strangled in a cloak of English ivy(Hedera helix)....Now that's my idea of what a NS should be..."Hold the Ivy"

{{gwi:655377}}

The only one I see w/comparable-size cones in my (limited) ID book is P. smithiana (W. Himalayan spruce), but the needles seem too short for that species.

One w/similar needles is P. obovata (Siberian), but cones aren't as big as yours.

Tiger-tail spruce (in keeping w/your clue?) is P. polita, but that was already guessed.

P. spinulosa (E. Himalayan spruce) is another possibility, especially w/the sharp needles, but cones on yours seem too big for that.

North American Landscape Trees says cones of tigertail spruce are up to 5" long. However, I don't think it's that one anyway. Same reference indicates those of P. asperata are sometimes 6" long:

Needles very sharp and stout (aspera is Latin for rough), 1/2"-3/4" (1 1/8") long, glossy dark green to dull gray-green or even powder-bluish. Cones 3"-5" (6") long. Buds large, often with loose scales at the tips. Twigs hairy or hairless.

Finally, I think it's Picea morinda (=Picea smithiana)

Clément

That has slender gray needles, not particularly stiff, and tends to develop drooping side branches with age. Foliage evocative of younger Cedrus deodara, tree gray and somewhat amorphous from a distance as are Pinus wallichiana (another Himalayan tree) and P. sabiniana.

Definitely not P. smithiana, which as well as the longer, slenderer needles Bboy mentions, also has more fusiform cones (fusiform = tapered at the ends, not cylindrical), with thicker, slightly prominent (not smoothly adpressed) scales:
{{gwi:655378}}

Also definitely not P. spinulosa, which is very different (needles slender, white on lower side, on pendulous shoots, and very different cones).

Picea asperata also differs in slenderer cones with a more rhombic scale apex, and glaucous-grey needles, not green.

Beng's comments "One w/similar needles is P. obovata (Siberian), but cones aren't as big as yours" are very relevant; P. alpestris has often been compared with P. obovata, and is treated as a variety of it by some authors [P. obovata var. alpestris (Brügger) A.Henry], but does differ in its larger cones.

I'm still sticking with P. alpestris for this mystery tree.

Where is it growing?

Resin

This 'Mystery Tree' and several more of 'same' are located at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina....have also seen a single specimen of 'same' in Highlands, NC and all appear to have been planted around beginning of the 20th century, possibly earlier!...maybe the same source?

One more pic of 'same' on drier site with '07 opened cones
{{gwi:655379}}

Apparently your concept of the P. asperata foliage differs from Jacobson's, as can be seen in above excerpt. I also noticed looking at photos of plants purporting to be of that species a range in coloring. Also, the close-ups posted here of the tree(s) in question show leaves with some silveriness. But: the Norway-like cones would have to place them in some proximity to that species.

More Picea alpestris photos from Hauenstein Nursery, Switzerland

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea alpestris

Is it Picea koyamae?

Nope, that has much smaller cones, only 5-9cm long:
{{gwi:655380}}

Resin

"One more pic of 'same' on drier site with '07 opened cones "

Not convinced that is the same; the cones are more ovoid, this one could be P. torano.

Resin

Seems we're outta guesses. Conifer50?