Balsam Fir, Abies magnifica

About Balsam Fir (Abies magnifica) 1 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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The Red Fir or Silvertip fir (Abies magnifica) is a western North American fir, native to the mountains of southwest Oregon and California in the United States. It is a large evergreen tree typically up to 40-60 meter tall and 2 meter trunk diameter, rarely to 76 meter tall and 3 meter diameter, with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin blisters, becoming orange-red, rough and fissured on old trees. The leaves are needle-like, 2-3.5 centimeter long, waxy pale blue-green above and below with strong bands, and an acute tip. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but twisted slightly s-shaped to be upcurved above the shoot. The cones are erect, 9-21 centimeter long, yellow-green (occasionally purple), ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in fall.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Tree

Size

35 - 220 ft tall

Form

Upright, Pyramidal

Growth Rate

Slow

Dormancy

Evergreen

Flowering Season

Spring

Wildlife Supported

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 3 confirmed

, 57 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Modoc Budworm Choristoneura retinianaChoristoneura retiniana

Red-Striped Needleworm Moth Epinotia radicanaEpinotia radicana

Argyrotaenia provanaArgyrotaenia provana

Pine White Neophasia menapiaNeophasia menapia

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Brown-lined Looper Neoalcis californiariaNeoalcis californiaria

Speckled Green Fruitworm Moth Orthosia hibisciOrthosia hibisci

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture

Low

Nurseries

Carried by 1

Ease of Care

Moderately Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to - degrees F

Soil Drainage

Medium

Soil Description

Grows best on the deeper soils associated with glacial deposits and good surface mulch. Soil PH: -

Propagation?

For propagating by seed: 1-2 mos. stratification. Abies seed storage life is less than one year unless kept refrigerated.

Natural Setting

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 12.5" - 154.1", Summer Precipitation: 0.21" - 5.92", Coldest Month: 10.8" - 52.0", Hottest Month: 34.1" - 79.3", Humidity: 0.30" - 25.47", Elevation: 56" - 14092"

Alternative Names

Common Names: California Red Fir, Golden Fir, Shasta Fir, Shasta Red Fir, Silvertip Fir

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Balsam Fir

Abies magnifica

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Balsam FirAbies magnifica

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Balsam Fir

Abies magnifica