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The Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) is an North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada ( Newfoundland west to central Alberta) and the northeastern United States ( Wisconsin east to Maine, and south in the Appalachian MountainsThe Appalachian Mountains are a system of North American mountains running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Alabama in the United States, although the northernmost mainland portion ends at the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. The system is divided into to West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state of the United States, known as The Mountain State. While many consider it part of the South, many in the state's Northern Panhandle feel a greater affinity for Pittsburgh, while those in the Eastern Panhandle feel a greater affini). It is a small to medium-size evergreenThis article is about plant types. For other uses see Evergreen (disambiguation Evergreen has two meanings in relation to plants: Evergreen means a plant retaining its foliage year-round (a botanist would say the leaves are persistent or not ''deciduous . treeThis article is about the biological organisms known as trees. For other meanings of the word see tree (disambiguation). oak tree in Denmark A tree can be defined as a large perennial woody plant. Though there is no set definition of size, it is generally typically 14-20 m tall, rarely to 27 m tall, with a narrow conic crown. The barkFor other meanings of bark see Bark (disambiguation). Bark is the outermost layer of stems and roots of woody plants such as trees. It overlays the wood and consists of three layers: the cork, the phloem, and the vascular cambium in other words, most of t on young trees is smooth, grey, and with resinResin is a hydrocarbon secretion formed in special resin canals of many plants, from many of which (for example, coniferous trees) it is exuded in soft drops from wounds, hardening into solid masses in the air. It may be obtained by making incisions in th blisters, becoming rough and fissured or scaly on old trees. The leavesThis article is about the leaf a plant organ. See Leaf (disambiguation) for other meanings. In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the chloroplast con are flat needle-like, 1.5-3 cm long, dark green above often with a small patch of stomata near the tip, and two white stomatal 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, 4-8 cm long, dark purple, ripening brown and disintegrating to release the winged seeds in September.

There are two varieties:

• Abies balsamea var. balsamea (Balsam Fir) - bract scales short, not visible on the closed cones. Most of the species' range.
• Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis (Bracted Balsam Fir or Canaan Fir) - bract scales longer, visible on the closed cone. The southeast of the species' range, from southernmost Quebec to West Virginia. The name 'Canaan Fir' derives from one of its native localities, the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. Some botanists regard this variety as a natural hybrid between Balsam Fir and Fraser Fir (Abies fraseri), which occurs further south in the Appalachian Mountains.