NOS
ABIES
CONCOLOR
PAGE

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Pinetum, Winterthur Gardens, PA USA. Summer 2005. A very tall century-old example in a good state of glaucescence though fairly dark.

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Cornell Plantations, Ithaca, NY.  Summer 2005. A recent planting with four examples designed to show the species' natural variation in the
amount of silvery and blue wax. The brightest example approaches 'Argentea' ('Candicans') for extremeness but is not quite so silver.
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CHARACTER var. concolor
(species typical)		 Lowiana Group
(var. lowiana (Gord.) Lemm.)
Habit usually dense, crown often rectangular, forked trunks more common more open, often conical, less likely to have a forked trunk
Bark darker brown, not highly corky lighter brown, more corky
Needle position brush-like, evenly dispersed and uniformly erect on tops of shoots often v-shaped along branchets, having a separation down the upper part of the shoots.
Geographic origin of garden plants Numerous southwest to northwest US states, including CO, NM, and CA Oregon to Sierra Nevada Mts., a more limited range
NOTE: Today most conifer taxonomists do not accept the validity of these two taxa are botanical varieties. Differences are certainly apparent in cultivated plants in Europe and the US under these two names.  Wild plants are less clearly separated and do not meet the usual criteria for botanical varieties or subspecies. Other supposed differences in terms of branchlet color or cone color are considered unreliable. The above differences reflect cultivated plants and SOME wild plants. The RHS and others have adopted the Lowiana Group in place of var. lowiana. It is thus a strain or group of seedlings. One will stlll see plants in collections as botanical varieties and those plants in arboreta often can be separated by the traits above. This is another case of not knowing a wild population well enough and drawing early conclusions in literature from a rather incomplete and biased sample.
Abies concolor 'Albospica'
lc: new growth whtish, later a normal gray-green

Abies concolor 'Archer's Dwarf'
ha: miniature, globose to spreading, more conical with age in some examples
lc: more blue than species typical
ll: shorter

'Argentea' ('Candicans') - click to enlarge
Dawes Arboretum. August 2003. This extra glaucous, super silver variant occurs just like hyper-blue seedlings in the blue spruce
line. If you have room for just one cultivar this is still a nice choice.

'Argentea' ('Candicans') - click to enlarge
Cornell Plantations. Summer 2005. A view against the blue sky, showing how the clone should be more silvery than blue at this
distance. There are very few Picea pungens quite this silver.

Abies concolor 'Argentea' ('Candicans')
lc: foliage more distinctly silvery or whitish
ns: this variant occurs occasionally in seedbeds.

Abies concolor 'Aurea'
lc: new growth golden-yellow, later a more normal silvery-grey

Abies concolor 'Big Shot #14
ha: upright, very compact
lc: blue
ll: smaller than species typical
or: Jerry Morris
ns: this is a provisional name
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery

Abies concolor 'Birthday Broom'
ha: miniature bun, very flat
ht: 6 in wide in 10 years
or: Rich Eyre found as witches broom on his birthday
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery

Abies concolor 'Blue Cloak'
ha: weeping with upright, strong leader and branches all downward
lc: blue
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery (online catalog 2001)

Abies concolor 'Blue Spreader'
ns: a listed name, presumably more glaucous and wide-spreading

Abies concolor 'Brevifolia'
ll: needles shorter than species typical

Abies concolor 'Brady' (3/01)
so: listed in 2001 Plantlist for onsite sales by Arrowhead Alpines.

Abies concolor 'Butzii'
lt: needles distinctly directed forward
so: thought to be lost from cultivation.

Abies concolor 'Candicans' = 'Argentea'

'Compacta' ('Glauca Compacta') - click image
Cornell Plantations, Ithaca, NY. Summer 2005. A nice young example.

Abies concolor 'Compacta' ('Glauca Compacta')
ha: dwarf, compact, irregular at times
lc: needles more glaucous than species typical
lt: needles more stiff, sometimes falcate (sickle-shaped)
ll: 2.5-4.0cm - much shorter

Abies concolor 'Conica'
ha: conical, dwarf, slower
lt: needles more horizontal than species typical, not curved as common in 'Compacta'
lc: blue-green, less glaucous than 'Compacta'
ll: 2.0-4.0cm - shorter

Abies concolor Lowiana Group 'Creamy'
ns: a listed name.

Abies concolor 'Domschke'
ha: dwarf
gr: 1 in per year
or: eastern Europe
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery (online catalog 2001)

Abies concolor 'Elkins Weeping' (3/01)
so: listed in 2001 Plantlist for onsite sales: Arrowhead Alpines

Abies concolor 'Fagerhult' (3/02)
ha: vigorous, pendulous, cascading over rocks if allowed. Can staked to make a small pendulous tree.
lc: very blue
ll: longer needles than species typical
or: Fagerhult Nursery, Sweden before 1933

Abies concolor 'Falcata'
lt: needles almost all sickle-shaped or falcate

Abies concolor 'Fastigiata'
ha: columnar, branches shorter and more erect

Abies concolor 'Gable's Weeping'
ha: semi-pendulous, often just irregular and horizontal

Abies concolor 'Glauca' = Violacea Group

Abies concolor 'Glauca Compacta' = 'Compacta'

Abies concolor 'Glenmore'
ha: upright, conical
lc: rich light blue

Abies concolor 'Globosa'
ha: globose, dwarf, branches very short
lc: less distinctly glaucous compared to 'Compacta'

Abies concolor 'Green Globe'
ha: globose
lc: more green than many cultivars

Abies concolor 'Hillier's Dwarf'
ns: a listed name. 

Abies concolor 'Husky Pup'
ha: conical, more flat-topped and mounded as young plants
lc: light grey-green

Abies concolor 'Igel'
ha: extreme dwarf
so: Coenosium Gardens 503-266-5471

Abies concolor 'Imaculate Conception' (3/01)
so: listed in 2001 Plantlist for onsite sales: Arrowhead Alpines

Abies concolor 'La Veta'
ha: dwarf
gr: 1 in. per year
or: Jerry Morris as witches broom
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery (online catalog 2001)

Abies concolor Lowiana Group (var. lowiana (Gord.) Lemm.)
id: see chart above.

Abies concolor 'Masonic Broom'

Abies concolor 'Mike Stearn'
ha: globose
lc: light blue
ll: shorter than species typical
in: Kenwith Nursery c. 2002 

Abies concolor 'Mora'
ha: dwarf
gr: 0.75 in. per year
lc: rich blue
or: Jerry Morris found in NM near Mora Mexico as witches broom
so: catalog from Stanley and Sons Nursery

Abies concolor 'Ostrov Nad Ohri'
ha: dwarf, globose
lc: light blue

Abies concolor Lowiana Group 'Pendens'
ha: weeping
so: thought to be lost forever. It is not 'Pendula'.

Abies concolor 'Pendula'
ha: narrowly pendulous, branches drooping down

Abies concolor 'Pigglemee'
ha: flat globe, more spreading than some dwarf clones
gr: 1 in./year
ll: 1.5cm - very short
lt: more curved needled
lc: light blue
so: Coenosium Gardens (website 2002)

Abies concolor 'Recurva'
lt: needles strongly recurved at first
lc: glaucous blue

Abies concolor 'Schrammii'
lc: more intensely glaucous blue
lt: needles often forming a V-shape on each branchlet.

Abies concolor 'Scooter'
ha: dense dwarf
gr: 1.5 in. per year
lc: green
or: Jerry Morris found as broom east of Silver City NM
so: Stanley and Sons Nursery (online catalog 2001)

Abies concolor 'Sidekick'
ha: compact, dwarf, 1 inch growth a year
lc: rich blue
or: Jerry Morris as witches broom

Abies concolor 'Swifts Silver'
lc: rich silver

Abies concolor Lowiana Group  'Variegata'
lc: variegated in some manner. Lost today.

Abies concolor Violacea Group ('Violacea',var. violacea (Murr.) Beiss., 'Glauca')
lc: needles notably silvery-white, occuring sometimes in seedbeds
ns: this is best treated as a cultivar group. It is this species analog of Picea pungens 'Glauca'

Abies concolor 'Violaceous Prostrate' ('Violacea Prostrata' illegitimate) NEW NAME
ha: low spreading
lc: light silvery-blue, as Violacea Group
or: cultivariant of Violacea Group

Abies concolor 'Wattez Prostrate'
ha: spreading, cultivariant version of 'Wattezii'

Abies concolor 'Wattezii'
lc: new growth light yellow, later cream colored. It looks sick unless large and well cared for.
eval: there are many nicer gold firs around.

Abies concolor 'Wintergold' ('Winter Gold')
ha: conical, erect, moderate vigor
lc: gold in cold weather.