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

Size
Size
35 - 220 ft tall

Form
Form
Upright, Pyramidal

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Slow

Dormancy
Dormancy
Evergreen

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring

Wildlife Supported
 


 

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Nurseries
Nurseries

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Moderately Easy

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to - degrees F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Medium

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

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

Natural Setting
Climate
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


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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