Abies magnifica
Abies balsamea
California red fir, magnificant silver fir, red fir, Shasta red fir, silvertip fir
balsam fir, sapin baumler
grayish, thin, with age thickening and becoming deeply furrowed with ridges being often 4 times wider than furrows, plates reddish.
gray, thin, smooth, in age often becoming broken into irregular brownish scales.
ascending in upper crown, descending in lower crown;
twigs opposite to whorled, light yellow to ± tan, reddish pubescent for 1–2 years.
diverging from trunk at right angles, the lower often spreading and drooping;
twigs mostly opposite, greenish brown, pubescence sparse.
hidden by leaves or exposed, usually dark brown, ovoid, small, not resinous or with resin drop near tip, apex rounded;
basal scales short, broad, equilaterally triangular, densely pubescent, not resinous, margins entire to crenate, apex sharp-pointed.
hidden by leaves or exposed, brown, conic, small, resinous, apex acute;
basal scales short, broad, nearly equilaterally triangular, glabrous, resinous, margins entire, apex sharp-pointed.
2–3.7cm × 2mm, mostly 1-ranked, flexible, the proximal portion often appressed to twig for 2–3mm (best seen on abaxial surface of twig), distal portion divergent;
cross section flat, with or without weak groove adaxially toward leaf base, or cross section 3–4-sided on fertile branches;
odor camphorlike;
abaxial surface with 2 glaucous bands, each band with 4–5 stomatal rows;
adaxial surface blue-green to silvery blue, with single glaucous band that may divide into 2 toward leaf base, band with (8–)10(–13) stomatal rows at midleaf;
apex rounded or, on fertile branches, somewhat pointed;
resin canals small, near margins and abaxial epidermal layer.
1.2–2.5cm × 1.5–2mm, 1-ranked (particularly on lower branches) to spiraled, flexible;
cross section flat, grooved adaxially;
odor pinelike (copious ß-pinene);
abaxial surface with (4–)6–7(–8) stomatal rows on each side of midrib;
adaxial surface dark green, slightly or not glaucous, with 0–3 stomatal rows at midleaf, these more numerous toward leaf apex;
apex slightly notched to rounded;
resin canals large, ± median, away from margins, midway between abaxial and adaxial epidermal layers.
at pollination ± purple or reddish brown.
at pollination red, purplish, bluish, greenish, or orange.
cones oblong-cylindric, 15–20 × 7–10cm, purple at first but becoming yellowish brown or greenish brown, sessile, apex round;
scales ca. 3 × 4cm, pubescent;
bracts included to exserted and reflexed (Shasta red fir) over scales.
cones cylindric, 4–7 × 1.5–3cm, gray-purple, turning brown before scale shed, sessile, apex round to obtuse;
scales ca. 1–l.5 × 0.7–1.7cm (relationship reversed in more western collections), pubescent;
bracts included or exserted and reflexed over scales.
=24.
=24.
Abies magnifica
Abies balsamea
Abies magnifica often exists in extensive high elevation stands in the Sierra Nevada; its close relative A. procera occurs in small mountaintop populations relatively isolated from one another. As expected for isolated populations, A. procera produces large interpopulation variation in morphology (J.Maze and W.H. Parker 1983) and chemistry (E.Zavarin et al. 1978). Where the two species meet in southern Oregon and northern California, many populations are intermediate; these have been called A. magnifica var. shastensis Lemmon. The status of such intermediates is unsettled. They may be accepted as hybrids between A. magnifica and A. procera (Liu T. S. 1971) or, alternatively, the paleontological record suggests that the two species may have originated from the intermediates (E.Zavarin et al. 1978). Individuals from this region should be assigned to A. magnifica, A. procera, or A. magnifica × procera (E.L. Parker 1963), depending on the morphologic criteria selected to differentiate the species, though clearly these individuals are genetically quite different from those near the type localities of the two species.
An extensive study of this variation, as proposed by E.Zavarin et al. (1978), is warranted. Such a study should consider data from the type localities as a basis of comparison. Moreover, to evaluate this situation critically, one should first determine if any genetic exchange occurs between Abies lasiocarpa and A. procera that may complicate an evaluation.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Balsam fir is frequently segregated into two varieties (e.g., H.J. Scoggan 1978–1979) based on whether the bracts are included (var. balsamea) or exserted (var. phanerolepis Fernald), the latter considered by Liu T. S. (1971) to be a hybrid between Abies balsamea and A. fraseri. D.T. Lester (1968) demonstrated, however, that bract length may vary within a cone, annually, and from tree to tree. Nevertheless, a tendency exists for the exserted variety to be found most commonly from Newfoundland south through New England (R.C. Hosie 1969; B.F. Jacobs et al. 1984); it is not found west of Ontario. Western populations lack 3-carene and have other minor chemical differences separating them from eastern balsam fir (E.Zavarin and K.Snajberk 1972; R.S. Hunt and E.von Rudloff 1974). Morphologic variation in balsam fir has been studied mainly east of Ontario; the populations to the west have been ignored for the most part, although they may yield stronger evidence for species subdivision.
In Alberta, populations intermediate between western Abies balsamea and A. bifolia (E.H. Moss 1953; R.S. Hunt and E.von Rudloff 1974, 1979) may be classified as A. balsamea × bifolia. In West Virginia and Virginia, populations of balsam fir tend to be more similar to A. fraseri than are more northern populations (B.F. Jacobs et al. 1984).
Balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is the provincial tree of New Brunswick.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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