Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Pinaceae > Abies > Abies balsamea

Abies balsamea (Canadian fir; balsam fir; Eastern fir; Balm of Gilead fir)

Synonyms:
Language: Chi; Dut; Fre; Ger; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Ita; Rus; Slo

Wikipedia Abstract

Abies balsamea or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central British Columbia) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia).
View Wikipedia Record: Abies balsamea

Infraspecies

Abies balsamea var. balsamea (Attributes)
Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis (Attributes)

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Low
Carbon Capture [1]  Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Low
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Summer
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Low
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  80 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Fall
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  The oleoresin (Canada balsam) is reported to produce dermatitis when applied as perfume; The foliage has also induced contact dermatitis;
Janka Hardness [4]  400 lbf (181 kgf) Very Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  20 inches (51 cm)
Scent [3]  The leaves are strongly aromatic of balsam when crushed.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Low
Seeds Per [2]  59840 / lb (131924 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Conical
Specific Gravity [5]  0.35
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  The balsamic resin 'Balm of Gilead'; Another report says that it is a turpentine; The term Canada Balsam is a misnomer because balsams are supposed to contain benzoic and cinnamic acids, both absent from the Canada oleoresin; Turpentine is also a misnomer, implying that the oleoresin is entirely steam volatile. Actually it contains 70 - 80% resin, only 16 - 20% volatile oil; Canada Balsam yields 15 - 25% volatile oil, the resin being used for caulking and incense; It is used medicinally and in dentistry, also in the manufacture of glues, candles and as a cement for microscopes and slides - it has a high refractive index resembling that of glass; The pitch has also been used as a waterproofing material for the seams of canoes; The average yield is about 8 - 10 oz per tree; The resin is also a fixative in soaps and perfumery; "Turpentine" is usually collected during July-August by breaking the turpentine blisters into small metal cans with sharp-pointed lids. Trees are then allowed to recuperate for 1 - 2 years before being harvested again; The leaves and young branches are used as a stuffing material for pillows etc - they impart a pleasant scent; The leaves contain an average of 0.65% essential oil, though it can go up to 1.4% or even higher; One analysis of the essential oils reports 14.6% bornyl acetate, 36.1% b-pinene, 11.1% 3-carene, 11.1% limonene, 6.8% camphene, and 8.4% a-pinene; To harvest the oil, it would appear that the branches should be snipped off younger trees in early spring; Fifteen year old trees yield 70% more leaf oil than 110-year-old trees; oil yields are highest in January - March and September, they are lowest from April to August; A thread can be made from the roots; Wood - light, soft, coarse grained, not strong, not very durable. Weighs 24lb per cubic foot; Used mainly for pulp, it is not used much for lumber except in the manufacture of crates etc; The wood is commercially valuable for timber even though it is relatively soft, weak, and perishable; Balsam fir is used in the US for timber and plywood, and is the mainstay of the pulp wood industry in the Northeast. The wood, which is rich in pitch, burns well and can be used as a kindling[257]
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  49 feet (15 m)
Width [3]  16.4 feet (5 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 4 Low Temperature: -30 F° (-34.4 C°) → -20 F° (-28.9 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 6 Low Temperature: -10 F° (-23.3 C°) → 0 F° (-17.8 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [2]  Very Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [1]  Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Abies balsamea

Protected Areas

Emblem of

New Brunswick

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Adelges piceae (balsam woolly adelgid)[9]
Melampsorella caryophyllacearum[9]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 10Sciurus griseus, Leslie N. Carraway and B. J. Verts, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 474, pp. 1-7 (1994)
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0