Noble fir
Needles attached singly via sucker-like bases, Often strongly glaucous, even from a distance. Needles dense on the shoot, spreading beneath. Needles on the upperside of shoot initially adpressed, then turning sharply vertical giving them a distinctive 'hockey-stick' shape. This feature is accentuated in the crown of the tree and especially on fertile shoots. Crushed needles with a strong scent, variously described as onion-like, but also reminiscent of white gloss paint, or fresh tomato leaves. Terminal buds almost hidden by the needles, small, dark purplish brown. Shoot not visible from above due to the dense needles, but from below the short dense covering of dark-brown to reddish hairs is clearly visible. Cones usually high up in the crown of the tree, upright on the branches, and disintegrate in situ when mature. A. procera cones are very large, 15-25cm tall, with strongly exserted downward pointing bracts which give the ripe cones a papery brown appearance. Cones sometimes so weighty that they twist over at an angle as opposed to remaining strictly upright.
A native of Washington, Oregon and North California this species was introduced to Great Britain in 1830. It is widely planted for forestry, though the stems do suffer from stress cracking which devalues the timber. It is often encountered as a specimen tree in parks and the gardens of stately homes and castles, particularly in northern England, Wales and Scotland.