Abies concolor, White Fir (14)

The White Fir is a coniferous evergreen. When young, the bark of the tree is light grey, even silvery, and is covered with blisters filled with a very sticky resin. As mature trees, White Firs have a thick, deeply furrowed, brown bark. Throughout all the phases of their lives, White Firs are erect and single stemmed trees. Their leaves occur in sprays of grey green needles that are soft to the touch. They produce upright cylindrical cones that fall apart while still on the tree.

The White Fir is distributed in mid elevations of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains (between 3000 feet and 10000 feet) and is usually found in mixed conifer forests. Interestingly, the lower limit of the elevational distribution of the White Fir coincides roughly with the lowest levels of winter snow (Stuart and Sawyer, 2001)! Elevation, slope aspect, and microclimate all influence the winter snow line. As a result, different areas have very different lower elevational limits for the White Fir.

The White Fir is cut for timber, but its wood is not as valuable as other varieties of Fir. It is very vulnerable to fire, due to flammable needles and bark. In recent decades it has increased in number as a result of fire suppression regimes.