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)
Jepson eFlora Author: J. Robert Haller, Nancy J. Vivrette, & James R. Griffin
Reference: Xiang et al. 2009 Taxon 58:141--152
Unabridged Reference: Vasek 1985 Madroño 32:65--77Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Abies
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