The Noble Fir (Abies Noblis / Procera) is a western North American fir, native to the Cascade Range and Coast Range mountains of extreme northwest California and western Oregon and Washington in the United States
It is a large evergreen tree typically up to 40-70 m tall and 2 m trunk diameter, rarely to 89 m tall and 2.7 m diameter, with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin blisters, becoming red-brown, rough and fissured on old trees. The leaves are needle-like, 1-3.5 cm long, glaucous blue-green above and below with strong stomatal bands, and a blunt to notched tip. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but twisted slightly s-shaped to be up-curved above the shoot. The cones are erect, 11 - 22 cm long, with the purple scales almost completely hidden by the long yellow-green bract scales; ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in autumn.
It is a high altitude tree, typically occurring at 900 - 2,700 m altitude, though only rarely reaching tree line.
It is very closely related to Red Fir (Abies magnifica), which replaces it further southeast in southernmost Oregon and California, being best distinguished by the leaves having a groove along the midrib on the upper side; Red Fir does not show this.
Uses
Noble Fir is a popular Christmas tree. The wood is used for general structural purposes and paper manufacture.
