Abies concolor come in two different types: the Rocky Mountain white fir and the California white fir. There is disagreement among dendrologists about whether these types constitute a difference in species or in variety. One type of white fir grows in the Rocky Mountains from southern Idaho through Utah and Colorado to New Mexico and Arizona. This type also grows in the Great Basin Mountains in Nevada to southern California and northern Mexico. The second type grows in the Cascades of Oregon through California to the northern Baja California in Mexico. The Sequoia National Forest in California has many white firs that the park protects. 

There is also a type of white fir in Taiwan that looks very different aesthetically from the Abies concolor in the geographic United States. This aesthetic difference is probably because it is a different species of tree altogether! The Taiwan white fir, or Tsuga chinensis,grows straight and tall. It is believed that this tree grows in Taiwan as the result of four glacial periods over the past 1.5 million years. It grows at high altitudes and forms a relatively homogenous forest.