Southern Balsam Fir

The Abies Fraseri is commonly known as Balsam, Balsam Fraser Fir, Eastern Fir, Fraser Fir, Fraser's Fir, She-balsam, Southern Balsam Fir, as well as Southern Fir

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Growing Regions

Fraser fir is restricted to disjunct populations at higher elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia, western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee [2].

     

General Information

The accepted scientific name for Fraser fir is Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poiret. It is a member of the family Pinaceae and is very closely related to balsam fir (A. balsamea) [16]. Fir trees in Virginia and West Virginia are intermediate between balsam fir and Fraser fir; the putative hybrid is recognized as Abies x phanerolepis (Fern.) Liu (synonymous with Abies intermedia Full.) [18,20].

At the highest elevations Fraser fir forms nearly pure stands; American
mountain ash (Sorbus americana) is usually its only canopy associate.
At mid- and lower elevations Fraser fir occurs with eastern hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis), yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra), and sugar maple
(Acer saccharum).  Mountain maple (A. spicatum), striped maple (A.
pensylvanicum), and serviceberry (Amelanchier spp) are common understory
associates.  Shrub associates include hobblebush (Viburnum alnifolium),
witherod (V. cassinoides), redberry elder (Sambucus pubens), southern
mountain cranberry (Vaccinium erythrocarpum), catawba rhodendron
(Rhodendron catawbiense), and smooth blackberry (Rubus canadensis)
[2,21].  In red spruce-Fraser fir forests, Fraser fir typically makes up
10 to 70 percent of the relative basal area and from 20 to 90 percent of
the relative density [3].

Publications that name Fraser fir as a dominant or codominant species in
forest classifications include the following:

Ground vegetation patterns of the spruce-fir area of the Great Smoky
   Mountains National Park [7]
Vegetation of the Great Smoky Mountains [30]

• More Southern Balsam Fir Information

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