| Abies lasiocarpa | |
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| Specimen in North Cascades National Park | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Abies |
| Species: | A. lasiocarpa |
| Binomial name | |
| Abies lasiocarpa | |
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| Natural range | |
Abies lasiocarpa, the subalpine fir or Rocky Mountain fir, is a western North American fir tree.
Abies lasiocarpa is a medium-sized evergreen conifer with a very narrow conic crown, growing to 20 metres (66 ft) tall, exceptionally 40–50 m (130–160 ft), with a trunk up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) thick, exceptionally 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in). [2] The bark on young trees is smooth, gray, and with resin blisters, becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. [2] The lowest branches can be observed growing 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above ground level. [2] The leaves are flat and needle-like, 1.5–3 centimetres (5⁄8–1+1⁄8 in) long, glaucous green above with a broad stripe of stomata, and two blue-white stomatal bands below; the fresh leaf scars are reddish (tan on the inland variety). [2] They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to be arranged to the sides of and above the shoot, with few or none below the shoot. The cones are erect, 6–12 cm (2+1⁄4–4+3⁄4 in) long, dark purple [2] with fine yellow-brown pubescence, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in early fall.
There are two or three taxa in subalpine fir, treated very differently by different authors:
The species is native to the mountains of Yukon, British Columbia and western Alberta in Western Canada; and to Southeast Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northeastern Nevada, and the Trinity Alps of the Klamath Mountains in northwestern California in the Western United States. [2]
It occurs at high altitudes, commonly found at and immediately below the tree line. It can be found at elevations of 300–900 m (980–2,950 ft) in the north of the range (rarely down to sea level in the far north), to 2,400–3,650 m (7,870–11,980 ft) in the south of the range. West of the Cascade ridge, it can be found at elevations of 1,200–2,000 m (3,900–6,600 ft), while further east (particularly in Western Montana) it can be found from 1,500 to 2,700 m (4,900 to 8,900 ft). [2]
Annual precipitation ranges from 380 cm (150 in) in coastal mountain sites to only 65 cm (26 in) inland. [2] Snow gathered on the branches helps protect them from wind and heat. [2] Firs in general act as a snow fence, leading to the creation of meadows through extra moisture accumulation. [2]
The tree is highly shade tolerant, but very vulnerable to fire, short-lived, and slow-growing. [2] Despite having weaker wood than some of its timberline associates, it can survive by its ability to adapt (growing in a krummholz form) and reproduce via layering in clusters at high elevations. [2] At timberline, a single tree can leave behind a ring of trees (an 'atoll') via layering. [2] The species has benefited from wildfire suppression in more recent years. [2]
Various animals, including mountain goats, take shelter in subalpine fir clusters and krummholz. [2] The bark is browsed by game animals and its leaves are eaten by grouse. Songbirds, Richardson's grouse, Cascade pine squirrels, and other mammals consume the seeds. [3] [4] It is host to pathogenic fungi such as the species Delphinella balsameae . [5]
Native Americans used the leaves as deodorant and burned them as incense or medicinal vapor. [2] Powdered bark and other components were used in solutions to treat colds. [2] Resin was used to dress wounds or chewed as gum. [2] The tree boughs were used for bedding. [2] Some Plateau Indian tribes drank or washed in a subalpine fir boil for purification or to make their hair grow. [6]
The light wood is considered poor quality, but sometimes used for wood pulp, [2] general structural purposes and paper manufacture. It is also a popular Christmas tree. It is a popular ornamental tree for parks and large gardens, grown for its strongly glaucous-blue foliage. It can also function as a bonsai. [2] The cultivar Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica 'Compacta' is suitable for smaller gardens, growing as a shrub to 4 m (13 ft) tall by 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) broad. In the UK It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [7] [8]
The largest-known specimen, measuring 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) thick and 39 m (129 ft) tall, had a small door in its trunk and a storage space, which the film crew of the Disney-produced documentary The Olympic Elk (1952) used to store equipment. [2]
The Douglas fir is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and Mexican Douglas-fir.
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus Abies in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–56 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to Cedrus (cedar).
Pinus contorta, with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, but is rare in lowland rain forests. Like all pines, it is an evergreen conifer.
Abies balsamea or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States.
Abies alba, the European silver fir or silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and south to Italy, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Albania and northern Greece; it is also commonly grown on Christmas tree plantations in the North East region of North America spanning New England in the US to the Maritime provinces of Canada.
Abies pinsapo, the Spanish fir, is a species of tree in the family Pinaceae, native to southern Spain and northern Morocco. Related to other species of Mediterranean firs, it appears at altitudes of 900–1,800 metres (3,000–5,900 ft) in the Sierra de Grazalema in the Province of Cádiz and the Sierra de las Nieves and Sierra Bermeja, both near Ronda in the province of Málaga. In Morocco, it is limited to the Rif Mountains at altitudes of 1,400–2,100 metres (4,600–6,900 ft) on Jebel Tissouka and Jebel Tazaot.
Abies bracteata, the Santa Lucia fir or bristlecone fir, is the rarest fir in North America, and according to some, the world. It is confined to steep-sided slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in the Big Sur region on the central coast of California, United States.
Abies grandis is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,700 metres (5,600 ft). It is a major constituent of the Grand Fir/Douglas Fir Ecoregion of the Cascade Range.
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 Cascade Range 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 metres.
Tsuga mertensiana, known as mountain hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, found between Southcentral Alaska and south-central California.
Picea engelmannii, with the common names Engelmann spruce, white spruce, mountain spruce, and silver spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America. It is mostly a high-elevation mountain tree but also appears in watered canyons.
Cupressus arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.
Abies magnifica, the red fir or silvertip fir, is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a high-elevation tree, typically occurring at 1,400–2,700 metres (4,600–8,900 ft) elevation, though only rarely reaching tree line. The name red fir derives from the bark color of old trees.
Abies procera, the noble fir, also called red fir and Christmas tree, is a species of fir native to the Cascade Range and Pacific Coast Ranges of the northwestern Pacific Coast of the United States. It occurs at altitudes of 300–1,500 meters (980–4,920 ft).
The Fraser fir, sometimes spelled" Frasier fir, is an endangered species of fir native to the Appalachian Mountains of the Southeastern United States. They are endemic to only seven montane regions in the Appalachian Mountains.
Abies amabilis, commonly known as the Pacific silver fir, is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges and the Cascade Range. It is also commonly referred to in English as the white fir, red fir, lovely fir, amabilis fir, Cascades fir, or silver fir. The species name is Latin for 'lovely'.
Abies sibirica, the Siberian fir, is a coniferous evergreen tree native to the taiga east of the Volga River and south of 67°40' North latitude in Siberia through Turkestan, northeast Xinjiang, Mongolia and Heilongjiang.
Krummholz — also called knieholz — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes, shaped by continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds. Under these conditions, trees can only survive where they are sheltered by rock formations or snow cover. As the lower portion of these trees continues to grow, the coverage becomes extremely dense near the ground. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the formation is known as tuckamore. Krummholz trees are also found on beaches such as the Oregon coast, where trees can become much taller than their subalpine cousins.
Rhododendron menziesii, also classified as Menziesia ferruginea, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, known by several common names, including rusty menziesia, false huckleberry, fool's huckleberry and mock azalea.
Cupressus stephensonii is a species of conifer known as the Cuyamaca cypress, and is endemic to Southern California. It has been classified as Hesperocyparis stephensonii. It was previously listed as Cupressus arizonica subsp. stephensonii and Cupressus arizonica var. glabra.
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