BALSAM FIB (Abies balsamea, Mill.). 50 to 60 feet. 

 Broadly pyramidal tree, with stiff limbs and slender, pubes- 

 cent twigs. Bark thin, brown, broken into shiny plates, 

 with blisters of white, dried, or sticky balsam. Clear drops 

 of balsam from ruptured pockets in the bark occur on branches. 

 The "Canada balsam" of the useful arts. Wood soft, weak, 

 coarse, brownish, not durable, used for packing cases. Leaves 

 dark green, lustrous above, white linings, stiff, blunt, 2-ranked, 

 \ to \\ inches long, aromatic, cut for pillows. Flowers lat- 

 eral, purplish; stamina te tinged yellow by the anthers, minute, 

 button-like; pistillate with round scales and toothed bracts. 



Fruit erect cones, purple, 2 to 4 inches long, blunt, with broad, 

 plain scales, that fall away from the axis, revealing the short 

 bracts, and liberating the winged seeds. Dist.: Labrador 



through Canada to Minnesota; New England and along high- 

 lands to southwestern Virginia. 



