California Red Fir, Red Fir, Silvertip Fir                   A-bez  mahg-NI-fi-ka

• Conifer, evergreen, large, 125-200 ft (38-60 m) high, narrow pyramidal crown, short branches.   Bark is thick, reddish brown, and deeply furrowed in narrow ridges.  Leaves (needles) are linear, 2-3 cm long, spirally arranged but concentrated on the upper side of the twig, pointing upward (needles on the underside are hockey-stick-shaped... i.e., base parallels the twig... similar to A. procera), silvery-green to blue-green, stomatal bloom on all surfaces.   Cones 15-22 cm long, cylindrical, purple or purplish-brown then brown at maturity.
• Sun.  Best in well-drained, acid, moist soil; has low drought tolerance.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 6          Native to California, extreme western Nevada and the Siskiyous of southern Oregon.  Found in almost pure stands at high altitudes along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
• There is taxonomic confusion regarding Abies magnifica.  It is sometimes separated into Abies magnifica var. magnifica, California Red Fir, and Abies magnifica var. shastensis, Shasta Fir or Shasta Red Fir.  However, the Shasta Fir is also sometimes regarded as a hybrid between Abies magnifica and Abies procera, Noble Fir, and therefore named Abies ×shastensis (the times sign [×] indicating a hybrid).
• magnifica: magnificent