The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5–2.5 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, matt dark green above, and with two white bands of stomata below, and slightly notched at the tip.

The winged seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 6–7 months after pollination.

Maries' fir is very closely related to Pacific silver fir A. amabilis from the Pacific coast of North America, which is distinguished by its slightly longer leaves (2–4.5 cm) and larger cones (9–17 cm long).

According to the account in "Hortus Veitchii", whilst waiting at Aomori on the main island (Honshū) for a steamer to convey him to Hakodate on the island of Hokkaido: Maries noticed a conifer new to him growing in a garden, and learnt that it could be found in quantity on a neighbouring mountain.

The following day he again made the ascent, but this time from the north side, and he succeeded in procuring cones of a new species, since named by Maxwell T. Masters, Abies mariesii.