

iJiatwi-'aivi i; 



American Forest 



Trees 



ONE HUNDRETH PATER 

 FEASER FIR 



(Abies Fraseri — Pursh) 



The people who are acquainted with this interesting and somewhat 

 rare tree have seen to it that it does not want for names. Some of 

 these names are both definite and descriptive, while others are 

 neither. Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia furnish the 

 names. Within the tree 's range in Tennessee and North Carolina it is 

 often known as balsam without any qualifying word, and that is quite 

 suiBeient, for no other fir or balsam 

 grows within its range. In the same 

 region it is called balsam fir. That 

 is the common name of its northern 

 relative, but there is little likeli 

 hood of confusing the two species, 

 for their ranges do not over- 

 lap much, if they touch at all. 

 which they probably do not. In 

 Tennessee the name is reversed and 

 instead of balsam fir it is fir balsam. 

 It is likewise known as double fir 

 balsam, but why "double" is 

 added to the name is not clear. 

 Similar mystery attaches to the 

 name ' ' single spruce, ' ' which is 

 applied to the balsam fir in the 

 interior of British America. The 

 southern Appalachian tree is called 

 she balsam and she Jjalsam fir. 

 These names have no scientific basis, 

 and they appear to have originated 

 in a desire to distinguish this tree 

 from the red spruce with which it 

 is associated. The spruce is called 

 "he balsam." Artificial names like 

 these are not necessary to distin- 

 guish red spruce from Eraser fir, 

 as very slight acquaintance should 

 enable anybody to tell one from the 

 other at sight, and to see clearly 

 that they are not of the same spe- 

 cies. Mountain balsam, a North 

 Carolina name for this fir, is well 

 taken, for it is distinctly a moun- 

 tain species. The name healing 

 balsam is given in acknowledgment 

 of the supposed medicinal proper- 

 ties of the resin which collects in 

 blisters or pockets under the bark 

 of young trees and near the tops of 

 old. In West Virginia, where this 

 tree reaches the northern limits of 

 its habitat, it is called blister pine, 

 on account of the resin pockets. In 

 the same region it is called stack- 

 pole pine, because farmers who mow 

 mountain meadows use straight, very 

 light poles cut from this fir round 

 which to build haystacks. 



This tree is decidedly an inhabitant of the high, exposed localities, 

 being found entirely in the upper elevations of the southern Appa- 

 lachian mountains, either forming extensive pure stands or growing 

 in the company of red spruce (picea ruhens), with a scattering of 

 various stunted hardwoods, as birch, mountain ash, cherry and usually 

 with an undergrowth of rhododendron. 



Fraser fir's range extends from the high mountains of Nortli 

 Carolina, where it grows 6,000 feet above sea level, northward into 



RASER FIR IN THE SOTTIIERX ArP.VLACIJIAN MOrXTAIXS 



West Virginia, within a few miles of the Maryland line, at an alti- 

 tude of 3,300 feet. The tree is not found in all regions between its 

 northern and southern limits. Its best development is in the southern 

 part of its range. 



On the upper limits of its growth the tree presents a decidedly 

 picturesque appearance, being gnarled and twisted and plainly 



showing the results of its long 

 struggle for life and develop- 

 ment. It is always noticeable that 

 on the exposed side the limbs are 

 so short as to be almost missing 

 and on the opposite side they grow 

 out straight and long, appearing 

 iug to fly before the wind. 

 These limbs are sometimes of 

 as great a girth for five or six 

 feet of their length, as any part of 

 the main stem and have a singular 

 look, seeming to be all out of pro- 

 portion to the rest of the tree. The 

 older trees are vested in a smooth, 

 yellowish-gray, mossy bark, which is 

 quite different from that of the 

 balsam fir. The bark is thin, about 

 one-fourth of an inch on young 

 trunks, and half an inch near the 

 ground on old ones. The leaves are 

 usually half an inch long, sometimes 

 one inch, and their lower sides are 

 whitish, which tint is due to abun- 

 dant white stomata. In that re- 

 spect they resemble leaves of balsam 

 fir and hemlock. 



The cones, like those of other 

 species of fir, stand erect on the 

 branches, and average about two 

 and a half inches in length. They 

 are smoother than the cones of most 

 pines. They mature in September. 

 The winged seeds average one-eightb 

 inch in length, and are fairly abun- 

 dant. The Fraser fir grows as tall 

 as balsam fir, from forty to sixty 

 feet, and the trunk diameter is 

 greater, being sometimes thirty 

 inches, though half of that is 

 nearer an average. When of pole 

 size, that is, from five to eight 

 inches in diameter, Fraser fir is 

 often tall, straight and shapely. Its 

 form, however, depends upon the 

 situation in which it grows. If in 

 the open, it develops a relatively 

 short trunk and broad, pyramidal 

 crown. This fir ditfers from balsam 

 fir in its choice of situation. The 

 latter, though not exactly a swamp tree, prefers damp ground, while 

 Fraser fir flourishes on slopes and mountain tops. 



On the mountains of western North Carolina fir grows Ln mixture 

 with red spruce. Sometimes the fir is fifty per cent of the stand, 

 but usually it is less, and frequently not more than fifteen per cent. 

 Few fir trees in that locality are two feet in diameter. They grow 

 with fair rapidity in their early years, but decline in rate as age 

 comes on. It may lie observed in traveling through the stands of 



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