Abies amabilis

Abies amabilis, known as Pacific silver fir or lovely fir, is a large evergreen conifer in the family Pinaceae, order Pinales, native to the Pacific Coast mountain ranges of western North America. Its range extends from southeastern Alaska southward through British Columbia and the Cascade Range to the Siskiyou Mountains of northwestern California, typically growing at elevations between 300 and 1,800 metres in cool, moist montane forests. The species is one of the tallest North American firs, reaching heights of 40 to 60 metres with trunk diameters up to 1.5 metres. The crown is narrowly pyramidal and remains dense even as the tree matures. Bark is smooth and pale grey in young trees, roughening and becoming grayish-brown with age. The needles are flat and glossy dark green above with two prominent white stomatal bands beneath, arranged in a distinct comb-like pattern on lateral branchlets and sweeping forward and upward on upper branchlets. This two-toned needle underside, combined with a pleasant fragrance when crushed, contributes to the tree's common name lovely fir. Seed cones are large, cylindrical, and dark purple when young, reaching up to 14 centimetres in length, held erect on the upper branches and disintegrating at maturity as is characteristic of all Abies species. Abies amabilis forms climax forest communities with western hemlock and yellow cedar in the Pacific Northwest, and is an important habitat tree for northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets, and other old-growth-dependent wildlife.