Abies lasiocarpa

Plant Characteristics

Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	60 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 60.
Width:	⇔	12 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Origin:	✈	W United States

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	moist
Features:	✓	evergreen, foliage
USDA Zones:		4 to 9
Sunset Zones:		1-9, 14-17

Scientific Names

Pinaceae >

Abies >

lasiocarpa >

Native to high elevations in western US. Grows into a narrow, 60-90 foot tall steeple shaped tree in the wild under good, moist soil. In gardens it typically loses this narrow shape and height. Bluish-green needles, 1 to 1.5 inches long.

It is a medium-sized tree growing to 20 m tall, exceptionally to 40-50 m^wp tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter, and a very narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, gray, and with resin blisters, becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees^wp. The leaves are flat needle-like, 1.5-3 cm long, glaucous green above with a broad stripe of stomata, and two blue-white stomatal bands below; the fresh leaf scars are reddish. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to be arranged to the sides of and above the shoot, with few or none below the shoot^wp. The cones are erect, 6-12 cm long, dark blackish-purple with fine yellow-brown pubescence, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in early fall^wp.

More information about this species can be found on the genus page.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Varieties

There are two to three taxa^wp in Subalpine Fir, treated very differently by different authors:

• The Coast Range Subalpine Fir Abies lasiocarpa in the narrow sense, is the typical form of the species, occurring in the Pacific Coast Ranges, the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range from southeast Alaska (Panhandle mountains) south to California^wp.
• The Rocky Mountains Subalpine Fir is very closely related and of disputed status, being variously treated as a distinct species Abies bifolia, as a variety of Coast Range Subalpine Fir Abies lasiocarpa var. bifolia, or not distinguished from typical A. lasiocarpa at all^wp. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains from southeast Alaska (eastern Alaska Range) south to Colorado^wp. It differs primarily in resin composition, and in the fresh leaf scars being yellow-brown, not reddish^wp. The Flora of North America treats it as a distinct species (see external links, below); the USDA includes it within A. lasiocarpa without distinction^wp.
• The Corkbark Fir Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica occurs in Arizona and New Mexico^wp. It differs in thicker, corky bark and more strongly glaucous foliage^wp. In resin composition it is closer to A. bifolia than to typical A. lasiocarpa, though the combination "Abies bifolia var. arizonica" has not been formally published^wp. The Flora of North America includes it within A. bifolia without distinction; the USDA treats it as a distinct variety of A. lasiocarpa^wp.

Gallery

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Abies lasiocarpa subsp. bifolia (A.Murray) Silba. Northern & central Rocky Mountains.

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  Trees, with Picea engelmannii, Mount Agassiz, Uinta Mts., Utah

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  Trees, with Picea engelmannii, Mount Agassiz, Uinta Mts., Utah

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  Foliage with snow, Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

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  Trees at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

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  Trees at Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

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  Trees at Ouzel Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

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  Treeline "krümmholz" tree at Glacier National Park, Montana

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  Foliage, Jasper NP, Alberta

Abies lasiocarpa subsp. arizonica (Merriam) A.E.Murray. Southern Rocky Mountains.

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  Tree, near Santa Fe, New Mexico

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  Trees

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  Trunks

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  Bark

References

• American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432

External links

• w:Abies lasiocarpa. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Abies lasiocarpa QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)