Silver fir

The tree that gave the Black Forest its dark colour – and the heroine of the carol “O Tannenbaum”.

The silver fir is a stately conifer growing to 50 m, with silvery-grey bark and flat needles marked underneath with two white stripes. Its cones stand upright on the branches and break apart on the tree, so they are rarely found on the ground. It tolerates shade well and forms mixed forests with beech and spruce in mountains with a humid climate. Its deep root system protects slopes from erosion and windthrow, which is why foresters are increasingly reintroducing it in place of spruce monocultures.

Significance in the country

The custom of decorating a Christmas tree was born in the German-speaking lands, and the word “Tannenbaum” still means a Christmas tree today. Together with spruce, the silver fir forms the characteristic dark forests of the Black Forest and the Bavarian Forest.

Where it grows

Native mainly in the south: in the Black Forest, the Bavarian Alps, the Bavarian Forest and the Franconian Forest; a few sites in the Thuringian Forest and the Ore Mountains.

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