FIR, the Scandinavian name originally given to the Scotch pine (Pinta sylvestris) and now sometimes employed as a gen eral term for the whole of the true conifers (Abietoideae), but in a more exact sense, it has been transferred to the "silver firs," the genus Abies of modern botanists. (See GYMNOSPERMS.) The firs are distinguished from the pines and larches by having their needle-like leaves placed singly on the shoots, instead of growing in clusters from a sheath on a dwarf branch. Their cones are composed of thin, rounded, closely imbricated scales, each with a more or less conspicuous bract springing from the base. The trees have usually a straight trunk, and a tendency to a conical or pyramidal growth, throwing out each year a more or less regular whorl of branches from the foot of the leading shoot, while the buds of the lateral boughs extend horizontally. The cones are erect, and their scales drop off when the seed ripens; the leaves spread in distinct rows on each side of the shoot.
There are about 25 species of the true fir (Abies), widely dis tributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The silver fir (A. pecti nata), a representative Old World species, is a lofty tree, sometimes 150 ft. high, with large spreading horizontal boughs curving upward toward the ex tremities. The flat leaves are ar ranged in two regular distinct rows; they are deep green above, but beneath have two broad white lines, which, as the foliage in large trees has a tendency to curl upwards, give it a silvery appearance from below. The large cones stand erect on the branches, are cylindrical in shape, and have long bracts, the curved points of which project beyond the scales. When the tree is young the bark is of a•silvery grey, but gets rough with age. It is abundant in most of the moun tain ranges of southern and central Europe, but is not found in the northern parts of that continent. In Asia it occurs on the Caucasus and Ural, and in some parts of the Altaic chain. Extensive woods of this fir exist on the southern Alps, where the tree grows up to nearly 4,00o ft.; in the Rhine countries it forms a great part of the extensive forest of the Hochwald and occurs in the Black Forest and in the Vosges; it is plentiful likewise on the Pyrenees and Apennines. The wood is inferior, but, being soft and easily worked, is largely employed in the countries to which it is indigenous for all the purposes of carpentry. Deficient in resin, the wood is more perishable than that of the spruce when exposed to the air, though it is said to stand well under water. The bark contains a large amount of a fine, highly resinous turpentine, which collects in tumours on the trunk during the heat of summer. After purification by straining, it is sold as "Strasbourg turpen tine," much used in the preparation of some of the finer var nishes. Burgundy pitch is also prepared from it by a similar process as that from the Norway spruce. A fine oil of turpentine is distilled from the crude material; the residue forms a coarse resin. Introduced into Great Britain at the beginning of the 17th century, the silver fir has become common there as a planted tree, though, like the Norway spruce, it rarely comes up from seed scattered naturally; it is also planted as an ornamental tree in eastern North America.
Several other Old World firs are successfully grown for orna mental purposes in Europe and North America. Among these are the Spanish fir (A. Pinsapo) ; the Greek fir (A. cephalonica) ; the Algerian fir (A. numidica) ; the Cilician fir (A. cilicica), of Asia Minor; the Nordmann fir (A. Nordmanniana), of the Caucasus; and the Momi fir (A. firma), the Nikko fir (A. homolepis) and the Veitch fir (A. Veitchii), of Japan.
In North America there are ten native species of fir, found chiefly from the Rocky Mountains westward and attaining their maximum development in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. Of the two firs occurring in the Eastern States and Canada, the best known is the balsam fir (A. balsamea), which is found from Newfoundland to Virginia and northwestward to Labrador and the Yukon. It is a widely branching tree, 4o ft. to 6o ft. high, with fragrant resinous leaves ; it is extensively used for pulp-wood, sparingly for lumber and yields the valuable oleoresin known as Canada balsam (q.v.). The smaller southern balsam fir or she balsam (A. Fraseri) is confined to the southern Appalachian Mountains. Several firs of the western United States attain im mense size. The white fir (A. concolor), sometimes 25o ft. high with a trunk diameter of 6 ft., ranges from Wyoming to the Sierra Nevada and southward to Mexico. The lowland white fir (A. grandis), occasionally 30o ft. high, is a valley species found from Montana west to Vancouver island and south near the coast to central California. The western silver fir (A. amabilis), a beauti ful tree native to the Cascade and Olympic ranges from Oregon to British Columbia, reaches a height of 25o ft. and a trunk di ameter of 4 ft. to 6 feet. The California red fir (A. magnifica), often 200 ft. high, is a handsome tree of the northern Sierra Nev ada and the southern Cascade mountains. The noble fir (A. nobilis), usually Iso ft. to 200 ft. high, but sometimes 25o ft. high, with a trunk 6 ft. to 8 ft. in diameter, forms large forests in Washington, Oregon and northern California. The smaller alpine fir (A. lasiocarpa), commonly 8o ft. to ioo ft. high, is found in the Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to Alaska, and westward to Oregon, Washington and Brit ish Columbia. With the excep tion of the noble fir, the wood of most western firs is inferior to that of pine or spruce, but is used to some extent for lumber and pulp-wood. (See DOUGLAS