California Red Fir

(Abies magnifica)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

California Red Fir (Abies magnifica)

Identifying Characters: The purple-brown cones are very distinctive for this species. In addition the needles are quadrate (four-sided).

Similar Species: California Red Fir is the only fir species with quadrate needles within the range of this species.

Measurements: Mature trees large and basically conical, but with a rounded top; height from 60 to 130 feet and diameter 1 to 4 feet at breast height.

Cones: Cones 6 to 8 inches in length, cylindrical and purple-brown in color; cone scales usually yellowish, short, and hidden by the cone scales, but in one variety (Shasta Red Fir) exposed (second picture) and finely toothed.

Needles: Needles in two rows, crowded, and pointing upwards on upper twigs; length from 0.75 to 1.30 inches; needles quadrate, blue-green with white lines.

Bark: Bark thick, red-brown to brown, and deeply divided into narrow ridges.

Native Range: In California and southern Oregon, California Red Fir is limited to high elevations. Its range extends from the central and southern Cascade Mountains of Oregon southward to Lake County in the Coast Ranges of northwest California and Kern County in the southern Sierra Nevada, from about latitude 43° 35' to 36° 50' N. Red fir is found outside these states only along the western border of Nevada, a few kilometers east of Mount Rose in Washoe County.

Lower elevational limits begin at 1620 to 1800 m (5,300 to 5,900 ft) in the Cascade and Siskiyou Mountains and increase toward the south, reaching to 2130 m (7,000 ft) in the southern Sierra Nevada. Upper elevation limits also increase to the south, beginning at 2010 to 2190 m (6,600 to 7,200 ft) in the Cascade and Siskiyou Mountains, and reaching 2740 m (9,000 ft) in the southern Sierra Nevada. California Red Fir can be found growing at lower elevations in canyons and other protected places where significant cold air drainage keeps soil and air temperatures low . In the California Coast Ranges, California Red Fir is found generally between 1400 and 1830 m (4,600 to 6,000 ft). (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: California Red Fir is generally found in the high mountains with dry summers and heavy snow in the winter.