grand fir Pinaceae Abies
|Leaf: Flattened needles, about 3/4 to 2 inches long, dark yellow-green above with 2 white bands below; apex rounded or notched; spirally arranged but flattened into 2 ranks especially lower in the crown; vary in length with lengths alternating on the twig; grow parallel to one another but perpendicular to the twig.
Flower: Species is monoecious; male cones yellowish and borne beneath the leaves; female cones yellowish-green to green and borne upright near the top of the crown.
Fruit: Cones are 2 to 4 inches long, barrel-shaped, and borne upright on the twig; cone scales are deciduous, falling from the cone as seeds ripen; green to purplish green when mature.
Twig: Stiff, olive to reddish brown, and covered with round, flat leaf scars when needles fall. Buds are large, rounded, and covered with pitch; terminal buds usually occur in clusters of three or more.
Bark: When young grayish green and covered with resin blisters; with age becoming 2 to 3 inches thick, grayish brown and mottled, often furrowed with flattened ridges; inner bark is purple-red.
Form: A large evergreen, commonly 150 to 200 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet in diameter. It develops a long narrow crown of dense foliage, often rounded or flat-topped at maturity.
Looks like: Pacific silver fir
- subalpine fir
- California red fir
- noble fir
| Additional Range Information:
Abies grandis is native to North America.
Range may be expanded by planting.
See states reporting grand fir.
| External Links:
Silvics of North America
USDA Plants Database
|© Copyright 2015, Virginia Tech|
Dept. of Forest Resources
and Environmental Conservation,
all rights reserved.
Photos and text by: John Seiler,
Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera,
and John Peterson