1. Guides
  2. Carkeek Park, NW Seattle
  3. grand fir

grand fir

Abies grandis

Summary 7

Abies grandis (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea level to 1,800 m. It is a major constituent of the Grand Fir/Douglas Fir Ecoregion of the Cascade Range.

Associated forest cover 8

Grand fir is either a seral or climax species in different forest types
within its range. On moist sites it grows rapidly enough to compete with
other seral species in the dominant overstory. On dry sites it becomes a
shade-tolerant understory and eventually assumes dominance as climax
conditions are approached.

Grand fir is represented in 17 forest cover types of western North
America: it is the predominant species in only one, Grand Fir (Society of
American Foresters Type 213) (26). It is a major component of six other
cover types: Western Larch (Type 212), Western White Pine (Type 215),
Interior Douglas-Fir (Type 210), Western Hemlock (Type 224), Western
Redcedar (Type 228), and Western Redcedar-Western Hemlock (Type 227).
Grand fir appears sporadically in 10 other cover types.

In northern Idaho, grand fir is the major climax tree species in seven
habitat types and is an important seral tree in the Thuja plicata,
Tsuga heterophylla, and Abies lasciocarpa series of habitat
types (5). The Montana forest ecological classification recognizes an Abies
grandis series of three habitat types in which grand fir is the major
climax tree (23). It is also a minor climax or seral tree in four other
types in Montana. In central Idaho, Steele and others (28) described an
Abies grandis series that includes nine habitat types and five
phases in which grand fir is the climax tree.

The Abies grandis zone is the most extensive midslope forest
zone in the Cascade Range of Oregon and southern Washington and the Blue
Mountains of eastern Oregon. Grand fir is the climax tree species in 12
plant associations (15,18). It is also an important component of the mixed
conifer communities in the Willamette Valley and Siskiyou Mountains of
Oregon (16). In addition, grand fir grows sporadically in the Tsuga
heterophylla, Picea sitchensis, and Abies amabilis zones in
the coastal forests of Washington and Oregon (11).

Grand fir sometimes grows in pure stands but is much more common in
mixed coniferous and hardwood forests. In forests east of the Cascade
crest, it is associated with western white pine (Pinus monticola),
western larch (Larix occidentalis), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), western
redcedar (Thuja plicata), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta),
ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), and in certain areas,
Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), subalpine fir (Abies
lasiocarpa), black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), Pacific
yew (Taxus brevifolia), white fir (Abies concolor), incense-cedar
(Libocedrus decurrens), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), Shasta
red fir (Abies magnifica var. shastensis), and Oregon
white oak (Quercus garryana).

Associates of grand fir in northwestern Oregon, western Washington, and
southwestern British Columbia include Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis),
Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis), and Port-Orford-cedar
(Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), in addition to western redcedar,
western hemlock, western larch, and Douglas-fir. It also is associated
with these coast hardwoods: bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), Oregon
ash (Fraxinus latifolia), red alder (Alnus rubra), black
cottonwood, and Oregon white oak.

In southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, at the southern
limits of the range, grand fir is found with redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens), and at higher elevations with Shasta red fir, white
fir, noble fir (Abies procera), subalpine fir, and western white
pine.

Shrubs commonly associated with grand fir include pachistima (Pachistima
myrsinites), bristly black currant (Ribes lacustre), Saskatoon
serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), Rocky Mountain maple (Acer
glabrum), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), birchleaf spirea (Spiraea
betulifolia), huckleberry (Vaccinium spp.), Utah honeysuckle
(Lonicera utahensis), mallow ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus),
common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), baldhip rose (Rosa
gymnocarpa), princes-pine (Chimaphila spp.), Spalding
rose (Rosa nutkana var. hispida), oceanspray (Holodiscus
discolor), creeping hollygrape (Berberis repens), willow (Salix
spp.), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), rustyleaf
menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea), and pyrola (Pyrola spp.).

Herbaceous species commonly found in various associations with grand fir
include queenscup (Clintonia uniflora), false solomons-seal (Smilacina
stellata), goldthread (Coptis occidentalis), Pacific trillium
(Trillium ovatum), sweetscented bedstraw (Galium triflorum),
pathfinder (trailplant) (Adenocaulon bicolor), wildginger (Asarum
caudatum), Piper anemone (Anemone piperi), violet (Viola
spp.), sandwort (Arenaria macrophylla), heartleaf
arnica (Arnica cordifolia), strawberry Fragaria spp.),
rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia), western
meadowrue (Thalictrum occidentale), coolwort (Tiarella spp.),
fairybells (Disporum oreganum), white hawkweed (Hieracium
albiflorum), and sweetroot (Osmorhiza spp.). Graminoids
frequently associated with grand fir are Columbia brome (Bromus
vulgaris), pinegrass (Calamagrostis rubescens), western fescue
(Festuca occidentalis), and sedge (Carex spp.). Additional
species are associated with grand fir in the coastal region, where it
grows with western hemlock, coastal Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, and
redwood.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Tom Okey, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tom Okey
  2. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://eol.org/media/8881883
  3. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://eol.org/media/8881884
  4. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://eol.org/media/8881885
  5. (c) 2014 Zoya Akulova, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=618694&one=T
  6. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://eol.org/media/8881887
  7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abies_grandis
  8. (c) USDA, Forest Service, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/13844056

More Info

iNat Map

Member of the iNaturalist Network   |   Powered by iNaturalist open source software |   Documentation for developers