My favorite medicinal tree: Grand Fir

Grand Fir
Abies grandis
Pinaceae (Pine family)

It's almost time for harvesting fir and spruce tips and I could not be more excited. Nothing is more delicious than a hot cup of grand fir tip tea with a teaspoon of honey. Grand fir (actually a fir) is more elusive than douglas fir (not actually a fir). Something to keep an eye out for.

Note that fir tips share very similar medicinal uses: expectorant, antimicrobial, high in vitamin c. They are excellent for coughs and warding off the seasonal cold. There is a lot of talk about the role of vitamin C in warding off Covid as well, so definitely not a plant to be left behind.

Get your honey, vinegar and alcohol ready for infusing!

We have a few other fir species in Washington, including pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis), Noble fir (Abies procera) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa). I most often harvest from pacific silver fir, which is found in higher elevations in the cascades and olympics. All members of the fir genus have large pinecones that face upward with scales that squirrels like to peel off, eat the seed out of, and then throw on the ground. Piles of these scales can be found under many fir trees.