Wood Anatomy and Identification of North American Firs (Abies)

Anatomical comparison of 8 North American species of Abies was executed to provide taxonomic information. The species of eastern (balsam and Fraser fir) and western (Pacific silver, white, grand, subalpine, California red, and noble fir) were found to be separated on the basis of crystals and color of contents in ray parenchyma cells and ray height. In eastern species, crystals in ray parenchyma cells were absent and ray parenchyma cell contents were colorless to very light. These two eastern species were further characterized by the absence of uniseriate rays exceeding 25 cells in height. In western species, only subalpine fir had colorless to very light contents but the remaining five species have dark contents in ray parenchyma cells. Crystals were absent to extremely sparse in Pacific silver fir, somewhat frequent in noble fir, frequent in grand and California red fir, and very frequent in white fir. Uniseriate rays exceeding 25 cells in height were regularly found in grand and California red fir but absent in white and noble fir.