It is a common in the forest understory between 2,000 and 11,000ft. It grows predominantly on alfisol soils. Needles occur singly, are broad and flat, and measure 1 to 3 inched in length. New branchlets are olive green, but become light brown with age.
White fir is monoecious, and cones are found in the upper branched only.
Male cones measure less than 1.6 cm , while female cones are 7.5 -13 cm long. Cones are barrel-shaped, upright and green in the summer, turning browish when they mature in early September. The seeds fall three weeks later. The bark of white fir changes with age. The bark of young trees is ash-gray, smooth and thin and blistered.