Fifty Common Trees of New York 15 



6. BALSAM FIR 



{Abies balsamea (Linnaeus) Miller) 

 Balsam fir is a medium-sized' forest tree generally distributed in deep, 

 cold swamps throughout the State. The wood is light, soft, coarse- 

 grained, not durable, pale brown in color, and is of little value as a 

 source of lumber. It is cut along with spruce for pulp wood, and is de- 

 sirable as Christmas trees and for lawns. 



BALSAM FIR 



Bran-chlet and cone, natural size 



Bark — smooth, grayish brown in color, dotted with balsam blisters con- 

 taining fragrant oily resin; in old trees becoming somewhat roughened 

 with small scales. 



Twigs — smooth with age, grayish in color. 



Winter buds — small, almost spherical, glossy, clustered at end of 

 twigs. 



Leaves — borne singly and twisting so as to appear 2-ranked as in the 

 hemlock, flattened rather than 4-sided as in the spruces, dark green 

 in color above, pale below with 2 broad white lines, % inch long, blunt, 

 not stalked, aromatic when crushed, persistent from two to three years. 

 Balsam pillows are frequently made from the needles. 



Fruit — an erect cone, from 2% to 4 inches long, rounded at the top, 

 ripening the autumn of the first year, purplish green in color. Cone 

 scales — longer than broad, somewhat fan-shaped, falling the winter fol- 

 lowing maturity of cone and leaving only the erect central stalk to 

 which they were attached. Seeds — in pairs, winged, dark brown in color, 

 *4 inch long, ripening in September. 



