Family: Pinaceae, Pine view all from this family

Description The only native Southeastern fir, a handsome tree with pointed crown of silvery white aromatic foliage.
Height: 30-50' (9-15 m).
Diameter: 1-2' (0.3-0.6 m).
Needles: evergreen; 1/2-1" (1.2-2.5 cm) long. Spreading almost at right angles in 2 rows on slender hairy twigs, crowded and curved upward on upper twigs; flat, with tip usually rounded. Shiny dark green above, 2 broad silvery-white bands beneath.
Bark: gray or brown; thin, smooth, with many resin blisters, becoming scaly.
Cones: 1 1/2-2 1/2" (4-6 cm) long; cylindrical; dark purple; upright on topmost twigs; cone-scales finely hairy, partly covered by yellow-green pointed and toothed bracts; paired long-winged seeds.

Habitat Coniferous forests with Red Spruce in high mountains.

Range Appalachian Mountains in sw. Virginia, w. North Carolina, and e. Tennessee; at 4000-6000' (1219-2012 m).

Discussion Common in virgin spruce-fir forests at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and at Mount Mitchell, North Carolina. With its silvery and green foliage, this species is grown for Christmas trees and ornament. Known locally as "She-balsam," because of the resin produced in the bark. In contrast, Red Spruce (Picea rubens) in the same forest but without resin blister is often called "He-balsam." John Fraser (1750-1811), the Scottish explorer, discovered this fir and introduced it and many other plants to Europe.