PNW Native
Subalpine fir is commonly 80-100 ft. tall, with bluish needles ¾-1 ½ in long, with two prominent veins on the underside and one on the top, bristling and pointing upwards, with the upper branches being horizontal, stubby, and short. The seed cones are 2 ½ to 4 in. long, dark purplish-black, sap-laden, and stand upwards on branches. (DM) Natural range extends from Southern Alaska to Inland SW US, (N) more widespread in the interior drier areas of the Rockies. (PM)
Subalpine fir naturally occurs at subalpine elevations, but also near sea level at Coast Range estuaries and riverbeds and often grows on subalpine riversides near icefields. (PM) Subalpine fir is the most shade-tolerant species in the Cascadia region, which causes it to be dominant in old-growth, established forests in subalpine/alpine regions. This fir can asexually reproduce through its lower, wider branches through a method known as layering: the branch in contact with the ground roots and sprouts its own stem to become a clone plant of the parent. (DM)
Medicinal and spiritual uses of aromatic plants, including conifer boughs like subalpine fir, were intertwined and frequently inseparable with material uses. Subalpine fir boughs were used in cleansing practices, were present in bathing solutions, and were rubbed on the body and over hunting implements to increase luck before undertaking hunting or fishing. Fir pitch was mixed into boiled water as a tonic for coughs and a laxative, mixed with grease, and applied to skin sores, bruises, and sprains. A purgative was brewed from a bark decoction. Various parts of the plant were used medicinally including: seeds, edible cambium, pitch, gum, bark, and boughs. Strips of bark were used as cover and roofing for pit-houses by people of the interior plateau, such as the Secwepemc, Nlaka’pamux, and Okanagan tribes, (NT) and various parts of the tree were used for roofing, bedding, and baskets. The pitch was used to seal cracks in canoes and as a sealant for bowstrings. (N)
Alpine fir does not tend to thrive at sea-level elevations in the Puget Sound region. Trees frequently are short-lived, stumpy, and overrun with wooly balsam aphids in the lowlands. (G&G) Small firs are frequently grown and sold as Christmas trees, and the wood is used in construction and as fire fuel. (N)
Nessom, G. (2000, November 13). SUBALPINE FIR Plant Guide. Retrieved May 10, 2020, from https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_abla.pdf
