Abies fraseri - Fraser fir description

Scientific name: Abies fraseri   (Pursh) Poiret 1817

Synonyms: Abies balsamea subsp. fraseri(Pursh) A.E.Murray, Abies balsamea var. fraseri (Pursh) Spach, Abies fraseri var. prostrata (Rehder) Hornibr., Abies humilis Bach.Pyl., Picea balsamea var. fraseri (Pursh) J.Nelson, Picea fraseri (Pursh) Loudon, Picea hudsonia Gordon, Pinus balsamea var. fraseri (Pursh) Nutt., Pinus fraseriPursh

Common names: Fraser fir, She-balsam

Description

Tree to 15(-30) m tall, with trunk to 1 m in diameter. Bark silvery gray, becoming slightly flaky with age. Branchlets with dense reddish hairs, not grooved. Buds 2-4 mm long, very resinous. Needles arranged to the sides on lower branches and also angled upward on higher branches, (1-)1.5-2(-2.5) cm long, dark green above, the tips slightly notched or rounded (to bluntly pointed). Individual needles flat in cross section and with a large resin canal on either side midway from the edges, surfaces, and midrib, with up to three rows of stomates above, particularly near the tip, and with 8-12 rows in each greenish white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 8-10 mm long, greenish through reddish yellow. Seed cones oblong, 3.5-6(-8) cm long, 2.5-4 cm across, dark purple when young, maturing purplish brown. Paler bracts longer than the seed scales, sticking well out beyond them and bending down to cover them. Persistent cone axis narrowly conical. Seed body 4-6 mm long, the wing about as long. Cotyledons mostly five.  

Fraser fir is named after Scottish plant explorer John Fraser (1750-1811), who collected the type specimen and introduced seeds to Britain.

High southern Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, and southeastern Tennessee. Forming pure stands or mixed with red spruce (Picea rubens) or other conifers and hardwoods in the wet subalpine zone; (1,200-)1,500-2,050m. The climate is humid, with cool summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall, annual precipitation varies between 850 mm and 2,000 mm.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered

Varieties:

Abies fraseri ‘Blue Bonnett’   
Abies fraseri ‘Blue Planet’
Abies fraseri ‘Brandon Recker’  
Abies fraseri ‘Cedar Ridge Spreader’
Abies fraseri ‘Cline’s Dwarf’  
Abies fraseri ‘Coerula’   
Abies fraseri ‘Compacta’
Abies fraseri ‘Denny’s Doll‘  
Abies fraseri ‘Dwarf Lord‘  
Abies fraseri ‘Elvira’  
Abies fraseri ‘Fantasticooli’
Abies fraseri ‘Fastigiata Compacta’
Abies fraseri ‘Fefeber’   
Abies fraseri ‘Flynn’s Flash’
Abies fraseri ‘Flyns Frost‘
Abies fraseri ‘Ford‘
Abies fraseri ‘Franklin‘  
Abies fraseri ‘Frederick‘
Abies fraseri ‘Gee Broom‘
Abies fraseri ‘Hal’s‘
Abies fraseri ‘Horizontalis‘
Abies fraseri ‘Joes Dwarf‘  
Abies fraseri ‘Julian Potts‘
Abies fraseri ‘Ken Franke Prostrate‘
Abies fraseri ‘Klein’s Nest‘
Abies fraseri ‘Kline’s Nest‘
Abies fraseri ‘Kostelec‘  
Abies fraseri ‘Little Bryan‘
Abies fraseri ‘Miles‘
Abies fraseri ‘Nana‘
Abies fraseri ‘Old Glory‘
Abies fraseri ‘Old Ridge’
Abies fraseri ‘Palmeri‘
Abies fraseri ‘Pendula’
Abies fraseri ‘Piglett’
Abies fraseri ‘Pine Glen’
Abies fraseri ‘Potts’  
Abies fraseri ‘Prostrata’ 
Abies fraseri 'Rawl's Dwarf' 
Abies fraseri ‘Rauls’
Abies fraseri ‘Rechov Crazy Twist’
Abies fraseri ‘Recker No. 1.’
Abies fraseri ‘Recker No. 2’
Abies fraseri ‘Reeseville’
Abies fraseri ‘S Park-So.’
Abies fraseri ‘See’s Dwarf’
Abies fraseri ‘Silver Christmas’
Abies fraseri ‘Slim Jim’
Abies fraseri ‘Stupka Broom’
Abies fraseri ‘Uwisconsin’
Abies fraseri ‘Vashti’
Abies fraseri ‘Verkade’s Prostrate’
Abies fraseri ‘Winged‘
Abies fraseri ‘Wingle’s Blue Bonnet’
Abies fraseri ‘Yager’

Attribution from: Conifers Garden