Abies concolor

White fir, White Fir

Family: Pinaceae · Type: shrub · Native

White fir is a California native tree found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Mountains, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Modoc Plateau, northern eastern Sierra Nevada, and desert mountains in mixed-conifer to lower red-fir forest at elevations of 900 to 3,100 meters. Its mature form features a distinctive rounded crown with bark that transitions from white-gray in youth to gray-brown and deeply furrowed with alternate dark and light layers in age. Growing to heights of up to 61 meters with thick, glabrous twigs, this conifer has needles 3 to 9 centimeters long that grow in two distinct ranks, twisting upward on higher branches. Its leaves are approximately flat with blunt or acute tips, creating a dense, symmetrical foliage pattern. The tree produces seed cones 7 to 13 centimeters long, nestled among its distinctive branching structure.

Habitat: Mixed-conifer to lower red-fir forest

Elevation: 900-3100 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SNH, Teh, TR, PR, MP, n SNE, DMtns

California counties: Humboldt, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Kern, Inyo, Fresno, Modoc, Los Angeles, Nevada, Madera, Mono, Butte, Plumas, Lake, Amador, Mendocino, Mariposa, Riverside, Lassen, Alpine, Ventura, Siskiyou, Trinity, Tuolumne, Tehama, Tulare, San Diego, Calaveras, Sierra, Shasta, Del Norte, Placer, Glenn, Alameda, Colusa, Santa Barbara, Kings

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.