Conifers Garden CA - World's conifers | Shipping Worldwide

Abies balsamea


Abies balsamea - Balsam fir description


 

Scientific name: Abies balsamea   (Linnaeus) Miller  1768

Synonyms: Abies balsamea var. balsamea, Abies balsamifera Michx., Abies hudsonia Bosc ex Jacques, Abies minor Duhamel ex Gordon, Peuce balsamea (L.) Rich., Picea aromatica Carrière, Picea balsamea (L.) Loudon, Pinus balsamea L., Pinus taxifolia Salisb.

Infraspecific taxa: Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis Fernald

Common names: Balsam fir, Canadian fir, Eastern fir, Canada balsam, Blister fir, Sapin balsamier (French)

 

Description

Tree to 25(-30) m tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark gray, finally splitting up irregularly into shallow blocks with age. Branchlets with sparse, short gray hairs, not grooved. Buds 4.5-5.5 mm long, resinous. Needles arranged to the sides on lower branches, curved upward on the top side of the twigs in upper branches, 1.5-2.5 cm long, dark green above, the tips rounded to pointed. Individual needles plump in cross section and with a large resin canal on either side in the center, near the midvein, with up to three rows of stomates above, particularly near the tip, and with four to eight rows in each white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 4-6 mm long, of various colors from greenish through reddish tinges to bluish purple. Seed cones oblong, 4-7(-8) cm long, (1.5-)2-3 cm across, dull purple when young, maturing brown. Bracts shorter than the seed scales and hidden by them or the main blade just about as long as, and the point then sticking straight out beyond, the scales. Persistent cone axis narrowly cylindrical. Seed body 3-6 mm long, the wing up to twice as long. Cotyledons mostly four. The scientific and common names refer to the fragrant resin (Canada balsam) that has historically been an important mounting medium for microscope slides. It is obtained in essentially pure form directly from the resin pockets on the bark.

Northeastern North America from northern Labrador to northern Virginia and West Virginia west to central Alberta and northeastern Iowa, and central Minnesota. Forming pure stands or mixed in with other trees in boreal and mixed forests, and to the alpine tree line in montane forests of the central and northern Appalachians and related mountains; 0-1,500(-1,900) m. The climate is cold continental in the interior, cool maritime in the eastern part of the range, with precipitation between 250 and 1,250 mm and very cold winters.

 

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

 

Varieties:

Abies balsamea ’Albicans’
Abies balsamea ’Albida’
Abies balsamea ’Andover’
Abies balsamea ’Angustata’
Abies balsamea ’Argentea’
Abies balsamea ’Argenteovariegata’
Abies balsamea ’Armintrout’s Fastigiate’
Abies balsamea ’Ben Blackburn’
Abies balsamea ’Bear Swamp’
Abies balsamea ’Coerulea’
Abies balsamea ’Coerulescens’
Abies balsamea ’Columnaris’
Abies balsamea ’Compacta’
Abies balsamea ’Compacta Nana’
Abies balsamea ’Cree’s Blue’
Abies balsamea ’Denudata’
Abies balsamea ’Elegans’
Abies balsamea ’Eugene Gold’
Abies balsamea ’Fastigiata’
Abies balsamea ’Foliis variegatis’
Abies balsamea ’Glauca’
Abies balsamea ’Globosa’
Abies balsamea ’Hemisphaerica’
Abies balsamea ’Hudsonia’
Abies balsamea ’Jamie’
Abies balsamea ’Krause’
Abies balsamea ’Le Feber’
Abies balsamea ’Longifolia’
Abies balsamea ’Lutescens’
Abies balsamea ’Macrocarpa’
Abies balsamea ’Marginata’
Abies balsamea ’Nana’
Abies balsamea ’Nana Compacta’
Abies balsamea ’Nana Globosa’
Abies balsamea ’Nudicaulis’
Abies balsamea ’Paucifolia’
Abies balsamea ’Pedersen’s Globe’
Abies balsamea ’Piccolo’
Abies balsamea ’Prostrata’
Abies balsamea ’Quinton Spreader’
Abies balsamea ’Renswoude’
Abies balsamea ’Tyler Blue’
Abies balsamea ’Variegata’
Abies balsamea ’Verkade’s Prostrate
Abies balsamea ’Versicolor’
Abies balsamea ’Wolcott Pond’

 

Attribution from: Conifers Garden


 

    Top