Balsam Fir 



75 



I. BALSAM FIR Abies balsamea (Linnaeus) Miller 

 Pinus balsamea Linnaeus 



The Balsam fir, also called Balm of Gilead fir, Balsam, Blister pine. Fir pine, 

 Silver pine. Fir tree. Single spruce, Sapin, and "Cho-koh-tung," meaning "blisters," 

 by the Indians, occurs from Labrador, west to Alberta and southward to the moun- 

 tains of Virginia and to Minnesota, being most abundant in the regions about 

 the Great Lakes, occurring southward only in the mountains. It grows in swamps 

 or on their borders, usually with spruce and hemlock, occasionally, however, form- 

 ing forests by itself and reaching a maximum height of 30 meters, with a trunk 

 diameter of i meter, but in high altitudes and latitudes it is reduced to a very 

 small tree or a spreading shrub. 



The long slender branches, spreading horizontally and sometimes drooping, 

 are in considerably separated whorls, forming a broad symmetrical open conic 

 tree when grown in the open. The bark on large old trees is about 12 mm. 

 thick, smooth, grayish, and marked by numerous swellings that contain an oleo- 

 resin, commonly called Canada Balsam. 

 The slender twigs are finely hairy, yel- 

 lowish green, changing through yellow- 

 ish brown to purpHsh black,, becoming 

 smooth with age. The leaves, which 

 become fragrant in drying, are 10 to 22 

 mm. long, nearly 2 mm. wide, narrowly 

 linear, dark green and shining above, 

 pale green, or when young frequently 

 nearly white and marked by the promi- 

 nent midrib beneath; on young branch- 

 lets they spread outwardly, appearing 

 2-ranked and are pointed at the apex; 

 on upper fruiting branchlets they are 

 somewhat crowded, curved, nearly erect, 

 and bluntly pointed. The staminate 

 flowers are cyHndric, about 6 mm. long, 

 quite yellow. The pistillate flowers are 

 oblong-cylindric, 2 cm. long, and purple. 

 The cyHndric cone, tapering slightly toward the blunt apex, is 5 to 10 cm. long, 

 slightly covered with short hairs; its fan-shaped scales are about 2 cm. long, 

 sHghtly narrower, twice the length of the obovate bracts, which are finely toothed, 

 notched, and bristle-pointed. The seed is about 6 mm. long, the light browTi shin- 

 ing v/ing being twice as long. 



The wood is very soft, coarse-grained, light brown; its specific gravity is about 

 0.38. It is not durable, and is but seldom sawed into lumber, which is used mostly 

 for crates and boxes. The oleoresin which collects in the vesicles of the bark is 



Fig. 57. Balsam Fir. 



