Abies concolor

White fir or Colorado white fir is in the pine or Pinaceae family and is native to the mountains of the western United States from California to Colorado and New Mexico, growing at elevations of 900–3400 m. Coastal and interior varieties are recognized. It is closely related to grand fir (Abies grandis).

• Needles are particularly long (5–7 cm), flattened, blue-green, blunt-tipped and strongly upcurved to erect on all except weak shaded shoots in the lower crown. Leaf scars are suction cup-like (unlike the spruces where needles are on short stems). Soft and light-coloured needles make it very attractive as a Christmas tree.
• The species is monoecious; males are small yellow catkins, on ends of twigs in spring; females are inconspicuous, developing into upright cones 8 –14 cm long, oblong, yellow-green, turning to purple, fragmenting in the fall when mature, dispersing winged seeds.
• Buds are exposed at the branch tips, either yellowish in color and nearly conic in shape, or round when small, and resinous; bark is gray, thin and smooth, becoming furrowed with age.
• Species is very shade-tolerant, often outcompeting sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) and incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens).