Fraser's Fir, Abies fraseri

1970s • Appalachian Mountains

Abies fraseri is widely grown for use as a Christmas tree, but it is endangered in its native habitat: the steep slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains, where tree grows on wet, shallow soils, and plays an important role in preventing soil erosion. Ninety percent of the existing tree died with the accidental introduction of the balsam woolly adelgid, first discovered in the southern Appalachians in 1957. New trees continue to sprout where the mature forests once stood and there is some evidence of the trees becoming resistant to the pest.

Center for Plant Conservation. “Fraser Fir Plant Profile.” Center for Plant Conservation, 1 Sept. 2020, saveplants.org/plant-profile/?CPCNum=3. Daniel M. Johnson, William K. Smith, Refugial forests of the southern Appalachians: photosynthesis and survival in current-year Abies fraseri seedlings, Tree Physiology, Volume 25, Issue 11, November 2005, Pages 1379–1387

image: Abies fraseri forest, Mount Mitchell summit, — western North Carolina. wikimedia commons.