Looks like the remains of male strobili.

tj

Agree.

Dax

some might call them.. LAST YEARS POLLEN SACS .... if they dont want to be all sciency about it ... lol

ken

Thank you all.
I guess I should read up more on the botany of conifers, and not just planting them.
Thanks again.

bboy is that you??? ..with 31 thousand comments.. i have to think so ...

ken

I have a healthy 15+ ft tall Abies concolor that went into decline a few years ago; branches dying off from top to bottom, but it struggled to come back gradually producing new shoots from the main trunk top to bottom. All the dead or almost dead branches were covered with small lumps along each branch from the tips as shown in the image below. The image shows a branch that was dead for more than a year and the lumps were already weathered down and more sparse than it was originally. ( It was these lumps that got me worry and started this post.) Any idea whether these lumps are part of the cause of decline or just a side effect?

Gar, it looks like harmless lichen, just looking for a place to live. Not in any way a causal factor in tree's problems.

+oM

Thanks +oM. I used to think lichen is typically the layer of grayish lumpy covering on the branch. Now that you mentioned it, I googled 'lichen' images, they can come in a wide spectrum of the forms including a covering of tiny mushroom-liked lumps as well (not very clear in my pic since most of them had been weathered down).

Exactly! The world of lichens is amazing and amazingly diverse.....and they're all dual or triple organisms, living in a mutualistically beneficial arrangement with one another. Sure got to wonder how nature devised all the crazy interrelationships, much of which is presently being bulldozed out of existence.

+oM

bboy is that you??? ..with 31 thousand comments.. i have to think so ...

I guess you just can't shut some people up.

True firs and spruces pretty much all go to pot after a time in the Seattle area. Hasn't stopped many thousands of them from being planted.

Emb, I've seen you make that comment before-and of course, I'm sure you isn't lying-but what the heck, isn't that the evergreen state? What's going on? And what are all those deep=-reen, heavy-foliaged conifers I always see in the background of TV news items from Seattle area? Doug-trees? They're typically a little out of focus but resemble in general aspect, a copse of Norway spruce out here further east-and one in good condition.

+oM

"And what are all those deep-green, heavy-foliaged conifers I always see in the background of TV news items from Seattle area?"

Mostly Douglas-fir.

Resin