White Fir (Abies Concolor)
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Conspicuous in the higher forests of southern
Oregon are a number of true firs belonging to the genus Abies,
which includes also the well-known balsam fir of the East. Douglas
fir should not be confused with the true firs, as it is a widely
different tree to which the name fir has become attached by popular
usage. All of the true firs are fine handsome trees, many of them
large in size and producing excellent timber, others smaller and
limby and found only at higher altitudes. Eight species occur
naturally in the Pacific coast forests, and of these at least four
occur in or near the Crater Lake National Park.
Towering among the Douglas fir and pines south of
the park, is an abundant tree, the true white fir (Abies concolor),
whose massive gray trunks are unlike those of any other found in the
forest. White fir (fig. 10) reaches a height of 200 feet under
favorable conditions, and occasionally the trunks are 5 feet and
more through. It seldom reaches this size except in the California
Sierras. In southern Oregon half this diameter and 120 feet in
height is nearer the average dimension for white fir. This tree may
be recognized by its gray-furrowed bark, and by its dense conical
crown, both when young and in old age.
Fig. 10—White fir (Abies concolor)
9 feet 3 inches in diameter; 115 feet high.
White-fir needles are usually between 1 and 2
inches long, and on the lower branches they spread out from the
sides of the slender twigs forming beautiful flat sprays. The cones
of white fir occur in dense clusters, and as in all of the true
firs, stand upright on the very top of the tree or at the tips of
the upper branches. Except for those that are cut off by the
squirrels, or are detached when immature by wind or other causes,
they are never found on the ground, as the cone scales fall away
separately, leaving the central spike standing on the twigs. White
fir matures its seed in one season, and in September the cones break
up, sending their showers of seed and scales to the ground.
The botanical range of this tree is from southern
Oregon to Lower California and east to the Rocky Mountains of
Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Nowhere is it valued to any
extent for lumber as its wood is soft and sappy and the trees are
greatly damaged by heart rot.
White fir does not grow at high altitudes, going
up to only about 6,000 feet in the Crater Lake National Park region.
It is found mainly along the southern side, following fairly closely
the range of sugar pine.
