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White Fir

Abies concolor

Also called California White Fir, Colorado Fir, Low's Fir, Rocky Mountain white fir, Balsam fir, White silver fir, Concolor Fir

White Fir
Photo: Puncsos, CC BY-SA 3.0

White fir is a large evergreen conifer of western North American mountains, widely planted as an ornamental landscape tree and as a Christmas tree. It is a large forest tree that suits open, cool sites rather than small yards or pots.

Family
Pinaceae (Pine family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Shade
Water
Water deeply but infrequently once established; it tolerates drought well.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerant of many types including rocky or poor ground.
Temperature
Hardy in cold climates; tolerates winter lows well below freezing, and dislikes hot, humid lowland summers.
How easy
Easy
Native range
W. U.S.A. to Mexico (N. Baja California, NE. Sonora, N. Chihuahua)
Climate
temperate

About

Abies concolor, the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs at elevations between 900 and 3,400 meters (3,000 and 11,200 ft).

It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas tree.

Where it grows

This tree is native to the mountains of western North America from the southern Cascade Range in Oregon, south throughout California and into the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir in northern Baja California, and south throughout the Colorado Plateau and southern Rocky Mountains in Utah and Colorado, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs between 900 and 3,400 m (3,000 and 11,200 ft) above sea level.

Uses

White fir and grand fir were used by Native Americans for medicinal use involving powdered bark or pitch to treat tuberculosis or skin ailments. The Nlaka'pamux used the bark to cover lodges and make canoes. Branches were also used as bedding.

Other Abies plants

Silver Fir · Pacific Silver Fir · Balsam Fir · Fraser fir · Nikko Fir · Korean Fir · Caucasian Fir · Algerian Fir · Spanish Fir · Noble Fir · Oyamel Fir · Siberian Fir

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Abies concolor by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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