NOBLE FIR 



(Abies Nobilis) 



THIS tree's name is justified by its appearance when growing at its 

 best in the forests of the northwest Pacific coast. It is tall, 

 shapely, and imposing. It often exceeds a height of 250 feet, and a 

 trunk diameter of six feet. It is sometimes eight feet in diameter. No 

 tree is more shapely and symmetrical. When grown in dense stands the 

 first limb may be 150 feet from the ground, and from that point to the 

 base there is little taper. It over-reaches so many of its forest com- 

 panions that it is sometimes designated locally as bigtree; but it is 

 believed that lumber is never so spoken of, and that the name applies 

 to the standing tree only. The Indians of th'e region where it grows call 

 it tuck-tuck, but information as to the meaning of these words is not at 

 hand. In northern California, and probably still farther north, this 

 species is often called red fir, feather-cone red fir, or bracted red fir. The 

 color of the heart wood and the appearance of the cone, doubtless are 

 responsible for these names. There is a tendency in the fir-growing 

 regions of the West to call all- firs either white or red, depending upon 

 the color of the heartwood. There are ten or more species of fir west of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and to the layman they all look much alike, 

 but to botanists they are interesting objects of study. 



The range of noble fir covers parts of three states, but the whole 

 of no one. Its northern limit is in Washington, its southern in northern 

 California, and it follows the mountains across western Oregon. It 

 often forms extensive forests on the Cascade mountains of Washington. 

 It is most abundant at elevations of from 2,500 to 5,000 feet in south- 

 western Washington and northwestern Oregon. On the eastern and 

 northern slopes of those mountains it is of smaller size and is less abun- 

 dant. Like several other of the extraordinarily large western trees, it 

 keeps pretty close to the warm, moist coast of the Pacific. 



The shining, blue-green color of the leaves is a conspicuous char- 

 acteristic of noble fir as it appears in the forest. They vary in length 

 from an inch to an inch and a half. They usually curl, twist, and turn 

 their points upward and backward, away from the end of the branch 

 which bears them. The cones, following the fashion of firs, stand 

 upright on the twigs, and are conspicuous objects. They are four or 

 five inches in length, which is rather large for firs, but not the largest. 

 The seeds are half an inch long, and are winged. They are well provided 

 with the means of flight, but many of them never have an opportunity 

 to test their wings, for the dextrous Douglas squirrel cuts the cones from 



157 



