10 Abies balsamea Seeds - Balsam Fir Tree Seeds

Abies balsamea Seeds

Common Name: Balsam Fir

The balsam fir (Abies balsamea) is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada (Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States (Minnesota east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia).

It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically 14–20 meters (46–66 ft) tall, rarely to 27 meters (89 ft) tall, with a narrow conic crown. The bark on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resin blisters (which tend to spray when ruptured), becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. The leaves are flat needle-like, 15 to 30 millimeters (½–1 in) long, dark green above often with a small patch of stomata near the tip, and two white stomata bands below, and a slightly notched tip. They are arranged spirally on the shoot, but with the leaf bases twisted to appear in two more-or-less horizontal rows. The cones are erect, 40 to 80 millimeters (1½–3 in) long, dark purple, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in September.