22. ABIES BALSAMEA BALSAM. 71 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. A resinous exudation of this tree, known 

 in Pharmacopoeia as Fix Canadensis, Hemlock Pitch or Canada Pitch, 

 is a gentle rubefacient very similar to the Burgundy Pitch, and, like 

 that, is used in the preparation of stimulating plasters for application in 

 cases of chronic rheumatic pains, chronic affections of the chest, etc.* 

 This Hemlock must not be confounded with an herb of the same name 

 the Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) whose medicinal proper- 

 ties are entirely different. 



22. ABIES BALSAMEA, MARSHALL. 



BALSAM, BALSAM FIR, BALM-OF-GILEAD FIR. 



Ger., Balsam- Tanne; Fr., Sap-in baumier; Sp., Abeto balsamico. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves linear, flat, obtuse, 9 lines (1.90 cm.) or slightly 

 more in length, emarginate or entire, bright-green above, the mid-rib prominent 

 along the glaucous-silvery under surface, nearly sessile, spirally arranged, but at 

 once diverging to either side, making a flat spray. Flowers -in May or June. Sterile 

 flowers with anthers tipped with a 1-2-pointed appendage, and the cells opening by 

 laceration; pollen quite as in the Pine. Fruit, cones, which are erect, cylindrical, 

 large 2-4 in. (5-10 cm.) long, violet-colored, with slightly projecting, obovate 

 serulate, mucronate bracts; these, with the broad, compact scales, deciduous from 

 the persistent axis at maturity. 



(The specific name, balsamea, is the Latin for balsamic.) 



A tree rarely more than 80 ft. (24 m. ) in height, or with a trunk more 

 than 2 ft. (.61 m.) in diameter, and even these dimensions are reached 

 only under most favorable circumstances. It is covered with a smooth 

 bark raised, everywhere about the trunk, in blisters, which hold each 

 from a drop or two to nearly a half teaspoon of a thick, transparent, 

 viscid fluid, which is the Canada Balsam or Balm of Fir of commerce. 

 The branches grow out usually in whorls of about five each, with great 

 regularity, and, diminishing in length from below upwards, develop into 

 a perfectly pyramidal top with a symmetry and compactness that is very 

 striking, and giving to " Balsam swamps ". a characteristic aspect. 



HABITAT. North-eastern United States and Canada, southward to 

 Virginia, westward beyond the Mississippi, and far northward, growing 

 in swamps and cold, damp woods. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very soft, light, not strong nor durable, 

 coarse-grained, remarkably easily split and very satiny, whitish with 

 slightly reddish tin* to heart and very distinct grain. Specific Gravity, 

 0.3819; Percentage of Ash, 0.45; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.3802; Coefficient of Elasticity, 81924; Modulus of Rupture, 515 ; 

 Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 365; Resistance to Indentation, 

 75; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 23.80. 



*U. 8. Dispensatory, 15th ed., pp. 1123-4 



