Subalpine Fir
Abies lasiocarpa
Subalpine fir is the narrow, steeple-crowned fir of high western mountains, shedding snow with its tight spire. A cold-climate specimen for elevation and cool, moist sites. Shoot tips brew into a tea, the resin has been chewed as gum, and the inner bark has served as a famine-food flour.
- Family
- Pinaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 90–90 ft
- Spacing
- 15–25 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- April, May
- Bloom colors
- white, green
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, mammals, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~117 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- hedge or screen, naturalizing
- Native states
- AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY
Related native plants
More Abies species
- Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea)
- White Fir (Abies concolor)
- Grand Fir (Abies grandis)
- Noble Fir (Abies procera)