40 Native Trees of Canada 



for interior decorative work, on account of its pleasing grain and figure. Douglas 

 fir is a valuable material for ties and paving blocks. In the West its uses are almost 

 universal, limited only by the fact that the wood is difiBcult to work when seasoned. 

 In the East it is used for bridges, docks, framework in buildings and cars, paving 

 blocks, and wooden pipes. 



THE FIRS 



There are twenty-three species of fir (Abies) recognized, four of which are 

 found in Canada. Three are western species and the other may be described as 

 an eastern species which extends into the West. 



The crown is usually pyramidal, dense, and narrow at the top. The branches 

 are slender, horizontal, and in more or less regular whorls. 



The leaves are flat and blunt at the tip. Sometimes near the end of vigorous 

 branchlets they are sharp-pointed. In arrangement they are two-ranked; that is 

 they appear to grow more or less distinctly from two opposite sides of the twig. 

 On the more vigorous twigs, especially on those near the top of the tree, this ar- 

 rangement may not be so apparent. 



The hemlocks and the Douglas fir (not a true fiir) also have this two-ranked 

 arrangement. 



. The cones stand erect The scales are shed at the same time as the seed and 

 leave the central spike-like axis erect and bare. The cone of no other native ever- 

 green breaks up in this way. 



ABIES BALSAMEA (L.) Miller BALSAM FIR 



Common names: Balsam fir, fir, balsam, white fir*, var (Mari- 

 time Provinces), silver pine*, white spruce* (Cape Breton), 

 Canadian fir (England). 



French names: Sapin baumier, sapin blanc, sapin rouge. 



The balsam fir is one of the most widely distributed trees in Canada, ranging 

 from Nova Scotia to Labrador along the east coast, then westward and northward 

 through New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario to Hudson bay, the Prairie Provinces 

 and Great Slave lake; and thence northward almost to Alaska. It is found in 

 pure stands or mixed with red spruce in the Bast and with black and white spruce 

 and tamarack throughout all its range. In the East it grows in the more moist 

 situations but in the North it is found on bare, rocky hillsides. 



It is a tree 50 to 60 ft. in height and 1 to 2 ft. in diameter. The regular whorls 

 of horizontal branches produce a broad, symmetrical, pyramidal crown of con- 

 siderable depth in proportion to the length of the clear trunk. Where crowded the 

 crown is short, and narrow, and sharp. The root-system is shallow and the tree 

 is easily overthrown by winds. 



The bark is very smooth, and thin, and conspicuously marked with raised 

 blisters, or pockets, containing oily resin or balsam. The colour is greyish-brown. 



The leaves are J/^ in. long, dark green and shiny, pale below, flat, grooved, 

 and very blunt or sometimes slightly notched at the tip. They are without stalks 

 and are not curved. Usually the leaves are divided into two ranks along the twig 



