Leaves deeply grooved, very dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, silvery white on the lower, with broad bands of 6 or 8 rows of stomata between the prominent midribs and incurved margins, on sterile branches obtuse and rounded, or notched or occasionally acute at apex, ¾′—1¼′ long, 1/16′—1/12′ wide, often broadest above the middle, erect by a twist at their base, very crowded, those on the upper side of the branch much shorter than those on the lower and usually parallel with and closely appressed against it, on fertile branches acute or acuminate with callous tips, occasionally stomatiferous on the upper surface near the apex, ½′—¾′ long; on vigorous leading shoots acute, with long rigid points, closely appressed or recurved near the middle, about ¾′ long and nearly ⅛′ wide. Flowers: male red; female with broad rounded scales and rhombic dark purple lustrous bracts erose above the middle and gradually contracted into broad points. Fruit oblong, slightly narrowed to the rounded and often retuse apex, deep rich purple, puberulous, 3½′—6′ long, with scales 1′—1⅛′ wide, nearly as long as broad, gradually narrowed from the rounded apex and rather more than twice as long as their reddish rhombic or oblong-obovate bracts terminating in long slender tips; seeds light yellow-brown, ½′ long, with oblique pale brown lustrous wings about ¾′ long. A tree, often 250° tall, or at high altitudes and in the north usually not more than 70°—80° tall, with a trunk 4°—6° in diameter, in thick forests often naked for 150°, but in open situations densely clothed to the ground with comparatively short branches sweeping down in graceful curves, and stout branchlets clothed for four or five years with soft fine pubescence, light orange-brown in their first season, becoming dark purple and ultimately reddish brown. Winter-buds nearly globose, ⅛′—¼′ thick, with closely imbricated lustrous purple scales. Bark on trees up to 150 years old thin, smooth, pale or silvery white, becoming near the ground on old trees 1½′—2½′ thick, and irregularly divided into comparatively small plates covered with small closely appressed reddish brown or reddish gray scales. Wood light, hard, not strong, close-grained, pale brown, with nearly white sapwood; in Washington occasionally manufactured into lumber used in the interior finish of buildings. Distribution. High mountain slopes and benches from southeastern Alaska (Boca de Quadra Inlet and Sandfly Bay), to Vancouver Island and southward along the coast ranges to Saddle Mountain near Astoria, Oregon, and on the Cascade Mountains to the slopes of Old Bailey Mountain, Oregon, ranging from the sea level at the north to elevations of from 3000°—6000° southward; attaining its largest size on the Olympic Mountains of Washington, where it is the most common Fir-tree.