Handbook of Tkees of the JSTobthkux Statks and Caxada, 



Tlie Frasor Fir is a Irco of medium size, 

 usually :{()-. ")0 ft. in lici;;hl. or soiuetiuios 70 

 ft., witii trunk l-ii'j It. in diaini'trr. Wiicii 

 sufliciently isolatcl it (irvcloiis a distinct 

 pyramidal top witli wliorls of lonj,' horizontal 

 lower branches, those above successively shorter 

 to the pointed apc.\. The bark of the younj^-r 

 trunks is copiously resin-blistered, tluit of 

 older trunks becoming covered with thin yel- 

 lowish gray papery scales, (piite different from 

 that of the Balsam Fir. One of the most re- 

 stricted trees of eastern rnitcil States in dis- 

 tribution it is found only at altitudes of from 

 4000 to 6000 ft. on tiie highest peaks of t'le 

 Allegheny Mountains, clothing their dry sum- 

 mits either with exclusive groves or in com- 

 pany with the Red Spruce (called locally by 

 the mountaineers " He Balsam " in distinction 

 from this the "Site Balsam ") Mountain Ash. 

 Yellow Birch, etc. This requirement in the 

 Fraser Fir for dry localities is strangely dif- 

 ferent from tlie love of the Northern Balsam 

 Fir for wet low-lands. 



Its wood is light, a cu. ft. weighing 22.22 



lbs. and seems to be but little used, perhaps 



due to inaccessibility though applicable to the 



uses mentioned of the other species. Its 



branches are jjopular for use in making balsam 



pillows.i 



Leaves flat, %-l in. Ion?, those of the sterile 

 branches emarginate and those of the fertile acute 

 at apex, dark green and centrally grooved above, 

 silvery white beneath with 8-12 rows of stomata. 

 Flou-rrs in May : staminate reddish yellow : pis- 

 tillate with scales much broader than long and 

 shorter than the exscrted i).'ile yellow-green br.-u-ts. 

 Cones mature in ScptiMiilier, (ivoM-eblong, 2-2Vj in. 

 long, dark imrple with scales wider tban long'and 

 with long exserted pale yellow-green rettexed 

 bracts, aristate at apex : si'eds about % in. long 

 with very wide wing oblique at apex. 



1. A. W.. XII, 300. 



