Balsam Fir

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Balsam Fir

The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is a North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n fir

Fir

Firs are a genus of between 45-55 species of evergreen Pinophyta in the family Pinaceae. All are trees, reaching heights of 10-80 m tall and trunk diameters of 0.5-4 m when mature....
, native to most of eastern and central Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
(Newfoundland west to central Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
) and the northeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
(Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with just over five million residents....
east to Maine

Maine

The State of Maine is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast....
, and south in the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
to West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
).

It is a small to medium-size evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
typically 14-20 m tall, rarely to 27 m tall, with a narrow conic crown.

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Encyclopedia

The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is a North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n fir

Fir

Canada

Alberta

United States

Minnesota

Maine

Appalachian Mountains

West Virginia

It is a small to medium-size evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
tree

TREE

BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin

Resin

Resin is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly Pinophyta. It is valued for its chemical constituents and uses, such as varnishes and adhesives, as an important source of raw materials for organic synthesis, or for incense and perfume....
blisters (which tend to spray when ruptured), becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are flat needle-like, 1.5-3 cm long, dark green above often with a small patch of stomata near the tip, and two white stomatal bands below, and a slightly notched tip. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to appear in two more-or-less horizontal rows. The cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the plant sexuality structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds....
are erect, 4-8 cm long, dark purple, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s in September.

There are two varieties:

Abies balsamea var. balsamea (balsam fir) - bract scales short, not visible on the closed cones. Most of the species' range.
Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis (bracted balsam fir or Canaan fir) - bract scales longer, visible on the closed cone. The southeast of the species' range, from southernmost Quebec
Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
to West Virginia
West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
. The name 'Canaan Fir' derives from one of its native localities, the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. Some botanists regard this variety as a natural hybrid between balsam fir and Fraser fir
Fraser Fir

Abies fraseri is a species of fir native to the mountains of the eastern United States. It is closely related to Abies balsamea , of which it has occasionally been treated as a subspecies or a variety ....
(Abies fraseri), which occurs further south in the Appalachian mountains.

Ecology

On exposed ridges and mountain tops, stands of balsam fir occasionally develop fir wave

Fir wave

A fir wave is a set of alternating bands of fir trees in sequential stages of development, observed in forests on exposed mountain slopes in several areas, including northeastern North America and Japan....
s. Often found in association with black spruce

Black Spruce

Picea mariana is a species of spruce native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, and south to northern New York, Minnesota and central British Columbia....
, white spruce

White Spruce

Picea glauca is a species of spruce native to the north of North America, from central Alaska east to Newfoundland , and south to northern Montana, Michigan and Maine; there is also an isolated population in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming....
and trembling aspen

Aspen

Aspens are trees of the Salicaceae family and comprise a section of the poplar genus, Populus sect. Populus. There are six species in the section, one of them atypical, and one hybrid:...
.

This tree provides food for moose, American red squirrel

American Red Squirrel

The American Red Squirrel is one of two species of tree squirrel currently classified in the genus Tamiasciurus and known as pine squirrels ....
s, crossbill

Crossbill

The crossbills are birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The three to five species are all classified in the genus Loxia. These birds are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English language name....
s and chickadee

Titmouse

The tits, chickadees, and titmice comprise Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa....
s, as well as shelter for moose, snowshoe hares

Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves....
, white-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

File:Wtdfishwild.jpgThe white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to all but five states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern portions of South America as far south as Peru....
, ruffed grouse

Ruffed Grouse

The Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus, is a medium-sized grouse occurring in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska....
and other small mammals and songbirds. The needles are eaten by some lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
n caterpillars, for example the Io moth (Automeris io).

Uses

The resin

Resin

Canada balsam

Canada balsam, also called Canada turpentine or balsam of fir, is a turpentine which is made from the resin of the Abies balsamea tree ....
, and was traditionally used as a cold

Common cold

Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, usually known as the common cold, is a highly contagious, virus infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by picornaviruses or coronaviruses....
remedy and as a glue for glasses, optical instrument components, and for preparing permanent mounts of microscope specimens. The wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
is used for paper

Paper

Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
manufacture and is also a popular Christmas tree

Christmas tree

File:Christmas Tree.JPGThe Christmas tree is one of the most popular traditions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Normally an evergreen Pinophyta tree that is brought into a home or used in the open, a Christmas tree is decorated with Christmas lights and colourful Christmas ornaments during the days around Christmas....

Balsam fir oil is an EPA approved non-toxic rodent repellent.

Tree emblem

The balsam fir is the Provincial tree of New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only Constitution of Canada bilingual province in the federation. The provincial capital is Fredericton....
.

Balsam Fir

Ecology

Uses

Tree emblem

External links