Description: Very large Fir, widespread in Western Mountains, with narrow, pointed crown of short, symmetrical, horizontal branches.

Height: 20 - 50 m

Diameter: 0.5 - 1.2 m

Needles: evergreen; spreading almost at right angles in two rows; curved upward on upper twigs; 4 - 6 cm long. Flat, flexible, almost stalkless; with tip short-pointed, rounded or notched. Light blue-green with whitish lines on both surfaces.

Bark: Light grey, smooth, becoming very thick near base and deeply furrowed into scaly, corky ridges.

Cones: 7.5 - 13 cm long; cylindrical; greenish, purple or yellow; upright on topmost twigs; cone scales finely hairy, with short, hidden bracts; paired, long-winged seeds.

Habitat: Moist, rocky mountain soils; in pure stands and with other firs. Attains maximum size on moist soils on east-facing slopes and at the heads of streams in California and south Oregon. California plant communities Yellow Pine Forest (m14), Red Fir Forest (m15), Lodgepole Pine Forest (m16).

Range: Extreme SE Idaho southeast to New Mexico, West to California, and north to SW Oregon; local in NW Mexico. At 1650 - 3350 m in south; to 600 m in north.

Rocky Mountain White Fir (var. concolor), of the Rocky Mountain region, grows in the warmest and driest climate of all North American Firs. California White Fir (var. lowiana (Gord.) Lemm.), the Pacific Coast variety, is grown for ornament, shade, and Christmas trees. The epithet, meaning "of uniform colour", refers to both needle surfaces. The winged seeds are eaten by songbirds and various mammals, especially squirrels and chipmunks. Deer and grouse feed on the foliage; porcupines gnaw the bark. Discovered in 1847 and introduced to the UK in 1872, a specimen of the type had reached 48m by 1974 at Cragside. Var. lowiana was introduced earlier, and in cultivation occurs in two forms: one similar to the type, originates from the Sierra Nevada and has reached 47m in the UK, while the other, closer to A. grandis, is thought to hail from Oregon and has reached a maximum of 35m in 80 years.

Information: Audubon (1980), Bean I

Source: Chiltern Seeds, Milnthorpe, Cumbria; Westonbirt Plant Centre; Weasdale Nurseries

Purchased: Packet of (33) seeds: 1994.05.06; pot-grown tree at 0.75m, £4.99: 1995.06.25; open-grown transplant of about same size spring 1996.

Planted: seed sown 1994.05.06, in two pots of six in mist unit. More sown over following two days. Westonbirt tree planted soon after purchase at B26A, Weasdale tree 1996.04.11 at B31A

Progress: First germination 1994.05.27 in sand/peat sown on 8th, one seedling. Two more showing a couple of days later from batches sown in compost on 6th. Original transplant died, 3 further seedlings healthy, but small, in June 1995. Westonbirt specimen was severely eaten (leader lost) by invading sheep in winter 1995/6 and again in winter 1997/8, but recovered from both attacks, though it's still not a lot bigger than when planted, 0.75 m on 1998.10.07. The Weasdale specimen was intended to replace the Westonbirt one, on the assumption that it would not survive. It, too, was chewed by sheep in winter 1997/8, and is also making a recovery, at 0.55 m on the same date. Since then we have very much improved the fencing and the trees have been able to grow unhindered. The Westonbirt tree is 2.4m with a single leader on 2004.09.27, while the Weasdale tree has two leaders, and is 2.8m.

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