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Santa Lucia Fir
Abies bracteata
  
About Santa Lucia Fir (Abies bracteata) 0 Nurseries Carry This Plant The Bristlecone Fir or Santa Lucia Fir (Abies bracteata) is a rare fir, confined to slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountains on the central coast of California, USA. It is a tree 20-35 meter tall, with a slender, spire-like form. The bark is reddish-brown with wrinkles, lines and resin vesicles ('blisters'). The branches are downswept. The needle-like leaves are arranged spirally on the shoot, but twisted at the base to spread either side of the shoot in two moderately forward-pointing ranks with a 'v' gap above the shoot; hard and stiff with a sharply pointed tip, 3.5-6 centimeter long and 2.5-3 millimeter broad, with two bright white stomatal bands on the underside. The cones are ovoid, 6-9 centimeter long (to 12 centimeter including the bracts), and differ from other firs in that the bracts end in very long, spreading, yellow-brown bristles 3-5 centimeter long; they disintegrate in autumn to release the winged seeds. The male (pollen) cones are 2 centimeter long, shedding pollen in spring.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Tree

Size
Size
65.6 - 180 ft tall

Form
Form
Pyramidal

Dormancy
Dormancy
Evergreen

Wildlife Supported
 


Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Part Shade

Soil Description
Soil Description
Soil PH: -

Common uses
Common uses
Deer Resistant

Propagation
Propagation?
For propagating by seed: 2-3 mos. stratification. Abies seed storage life is less than one year unless kept refrigerated.

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7*, 8, 9, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22, 23, 24

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Steep, rocky slopes

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 11.8" - 50.9", Summer Precipitation: 0.22" - 1.10", Coldest Month: 37.2" - 49.8", Hottest Month: 63.1" - 76.4", Humidity: 0.60" - 24.28", Elevation: 264" - 5059"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Bristlecone Fir, Silver Fir


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


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