Index / Search / Abies balsamea
§1 Plant
Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.
vernacular balsam fir — species · Pinaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Gymnosperm
- Family
- Pinaceae Spreng. ex Rudolphi
- Genus
- Abies
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§2b
County-level range
· 1 county across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -43 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 13–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4–6
- Root depth
- 20 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 60 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 18 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Dense
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Fall
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 59,840
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- Low
- Christmas tree
- Yes
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ABBA ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2685383 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z