Kingdom Plantae Order Pinales Genus Abies Higher classification Fir | Division Pinophyta Family Pinaceae Scientific name Abies bracteata Rank Species | |
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Similar Fir, Abies chengii, Abies delavayi, Abies numidica, Abies durangensis | ||
Abies bracteata, the bristlecone fir or Santa Lucia fir, is a rare fir, confined to slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountains on the central coast of California, United States.
It is a tree 20–35 m tall, with a slender, spire-like form. The bark is reddish-brown with wrinkles, lines and resin vesicles ('blisters'). The branches are downswept. The needle-like leaves are arranged spirally on the shoot, but twisted at the base to spread either side of the shoot in two moderately forward-pointing ranks with a 'v' gap above the shoot; hard and stiff with a sharply pointed tip, 3.5–6 cm long and 2.5–3 mm broad, with two bright white stomatal bands on the underside. The cones are ovoid, 6–9 cm long (to 12 cm including the bracts), and differ from other firs in that the bracts end in very long, spreading, yellow-brown bristles 3–5 cm long; they disintegrate in autumn to release the winged seeds. The male (pollen) cones are 2 cm long, shedding pollen in spring.
A popular ornamental, it can be seen in many arboreta.
