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).
Abies nordmanniana, the Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir, is a fir indigenous to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. It occurs at altitudes of 900–2,200 m on mountains with precipitation of over 1,000 mm.
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 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).
Abies lasiocarpa, the subalpine fir or Rocky Mountain fir, is a western North American fir tree.
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.
Abietoideae is a subfamily of the conifer family Pinaceae. The name is from the genus Abies (firs), which contains most of the species in the genus. Six genera are currently assigned to this subfamily: Abies, Cedrus, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Pseudolarix, and Tsuga.
Abies beshanzuensis is a species of fir in the family Pinaceae. It is endemic to Mt. Baishanzu in southern Zhejiang province in eastern China, where it grows at 1,850 metres (6,070 ft) altitude and is threatened by collection and climate change. The site is within the Fengyangshan – Baishanzu National Nature Reserve. Abies beshanzuensis is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List.
Abies chensiensis, the Shensi fir, is a fir native to Gansu, Hubei, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan in China, and Arunachal Pradesh in India. It was first described by Philippe Édouard Léon Van Tieghem in 1892.
Abies densa, the Bhutan fir, is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is sometimes included in the East Himalayan fir as a variety.
Abies fanjingshanensis is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in China, on Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou Province. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Abies fargesii is a species of fir, a coniferous tree in the family Pinaceae. Its common name is Farges' fir, after the French missionary, botanist and plant collector, Paul Guillaume Farges. Abies fargesii can grow very large and be up to 40 metres (130 ft) tall. It is endemic to central China where it is found in Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces. It grows in mountains and river basins at altitudes between 1,500–3,900 metres (4,900–12,800 ft) ASL. The cones of the given fir are 0.8 to 1.5 by 1.3–2 centimetres (0.51–0.79 in).
Abies forrestii is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae, endemic to China. It is named after the Scottish botanist and plant-hunter George Forrest (1873–1932), who discovered it for western science in Yunnan province. Its common names include Forrest's fir.
Abies kawakamii is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found only in Taiwan. First described in 1908 by Bunzō Hayata as a variety of Abies mariesii, a high-mountain fir native to Japan; the next year it was elevated to species rank by Tokutarô Itô. Abies kawakamii is exclusively native to the island of Taiwan, and is one of the southernmost true firs. It is a high-mountain species occurring in northern and central Taiwan at elevations between 2400 and 3800 m in association with other temperate plants, dominantly conifers, including Juniperus formosana var. formosana, Tsuga formosana, and Juniperus morrisonicola.
Abies nephrolepis, commonly known as Khingan fir, is a species of fir native to northeastern China, North Korea, South Korea, and southeastern Russia.
Abies numidica, the Algerian fir, is a species of fir found only in Algeria, where it is endemic on Djebel Babor, the second-highest mountain in the Algerian Tell Atlas.
Abies spectabilis, the East Himalayan fir, is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae and the genus Abies. It is sometimes held to include the Bhutan fir as a variety. It is found in Afghanistan, China (Tibet), northern India, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is a large tree, up to 50 m (160 ft) tall.
Abies squamata is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. This fir is common in the Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau (China) in an altitude from 3200 m to tree-line in 4400 m. It is dominant on North-facing slopes and often grows with Balfour's spruce, Picea balfouriana. Government sector logging that was rampant until the logging ban in 1998 reduced fir stands significantly. Reforestation after the ban was dominated by spruce, since Abies squamata is susceptible to stem rot and thus shunned by the state forest bureaus. Undergrowth is most commonly dominated by members of the genus Rhododendron. Local Tibetans know this fir as "bollo", but that term is a general term for firs and spruces.
Abies ziyuanensis is a species of fir, a conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is only known from four locations in Guangxi and Hunan provinces in China. A. ziyuanensis is related to Abies beshanzuensis, another threatened fir endemic to China.
