Common Name: PINE FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree, evergreen; monoecious. Stem: young crown conic; twig not grooved, resinous, generally persistent. Leaf: simple, generally alternate, sometimes in bundles or appearing +- 2-ranked, linear or awl-like; base decurrent, woody or not, persistent several years. Pollen Cone: generally < 6 cm, not woody, deciduous. Seed Cone: generally woody; bracts, scales generally persistent; scale not peltate, fused to or free from subtending bract. Seed: 2, on scale base adaxially.
Genera In Family: 10 genera, 193 species: generally northern hemisphere; many of great commercial value, supplying > 1/2 of world's timber.
eFlora Treatment Author: J. Robert Haller, Nancy J. Vivrette, & James R. Griffin, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: FIR
Stem: young bark smooth, with resin blisters, mature bark generally thick, deeply furrowed; young branches appearing whorled; twig without persistent, peg-like leaf bases, glabrous or hairy; leaf scars smooth, +- round to elliptic; bud generally +- spheric, generally < 1 cm, +- resinous. Leaf: 2--9 cm, sessile, twisted at base to be 2-ranked, often upcurved on upper twigs, generally +- flat; adaxially with 2 +- faint, longitudinal, +- white bands or not, midrib depressed or not; abaxially with 2 +- white bands or not, midrib ridge-like or not Seed Cone: erect, < 23 cm, maturing 1st year; stalk generally 0; bracts, scales deciduous; bract included or exserted, +- free from scale; axis persistent on stem, ultimately falling. Seed: with obvious resin deposits on surface; wing < 2.5 cm. Chromosomes: 2n=24.
Species In Genus: 39 species: northern hemisphere. Etymology: (Latin: silver fir)
Reference: Xiang et al. 2009 Taxon 58:141--152
Unabridged Reference: Vasek 1985 Madroño 32:65--77