Scientific Name– Abies alba Miller

Synonim– A. pectinata

Common name(s)– brad, abete bianco, abeto, european silver fir. 

Distribution and Habitat– originating in the mountains of Central and Southeast, grows in mixture with beech and spruce. Upper reaches an altitude of 1500 m in the southern Carpathians, but in the North of Moldova where the average temperature is lower, down to 400 m altitude.

Description– evergreen tree, 45-55 m high. Root pivotal, deep. Right strain, cylindrical; smooth bark in youth, gray, then the ritidom scaly, thin. Wood without duramen course, is white, pale yellow or reddish, soft, with annual rings visible. Crown dense cylindrical pyramid is the youth and wide, tabbed in the second half of life. Branches are located verticilat, stretched horizontally, the young gray green, pubescence. Glossy green leaves, long approx. 3 cm flattened, have two white stripes of stoma on the front bottom. Female cones, cylindrical, 10-20 cm long, brown - reddish, looking up with peaks and fall along with carpelele mature seeds. The seeds are large, connate with the wing, with pockets of resin in the skin. Length of seeds is 0.7 to 1 cm., Are tri-edges, yellow and bracteele exceed two times in length carpelele. Flowering in May-June; anemofila pollination. Turned to 2-3 years or even annually. Longevity, 800 years.

Growth rate– grows slowly in first years. Verticil first branches appear after 4-5 years, and in the first 15-20 years, crown growth is slow. Maximum plant development occurs after the age of 80 to 100 years.

Tolerances– supports partial shading, not claims against the light.

Requirements– demanding towards heat, being sensitive to frost and strong frosts late. Grows well on brown forest soils, fertile and deep, clay-sandy, medium acid to neutral, return, the marne and sandstones.

Propagation– the seeds in February. Germinate after 6-8 weeks. For best germination is advisable to sow immediately after maturation in the greenhouse, cold autumn. The seeds remain viable for 5-7 years if kept in optimal conditions.

Pest and Diseases– smoke, toxic gases and air pollution can cause leaf burn and plant death.

Garden Partners– Betula pendula.

Cultivars– 'Pendula' - top side branches bowed, with a height of only 8.10 m, 'pyramidalis' - crown is elongated, narrow pyramid.

Properties and Uses– bark contains 4-8% tannin availabilities, which is extracted for the tanning industry. The incomplete combustion of wood is obtained for the preparation of carbon black ink.

Young leaves and tops are used as raw material for preparation of "essence of pine, a product search in medicine and cosmetics. Tree flowers are sought by bees for pollen and propolis hand, the whole summer.

Buds and leaf stalk of a year have antiseptic properties, balsamic, diuretic, expectorant. Shoots are collected in February-March before they open, you can use fresh or dried in the shade, in well-ventilated. Stalk is harvested all year, not preserve, use fresh.

Curiosity– The area covered by fir is about. 5% of forests in Romania and ¼ of all conifers, the spruce tree after the resinous material.

Those of tree rot more easily than in other conifers and activates faster decomposition of litter, improving soil, humus structurandu it as type "mull", making it loose and rich in nutrients.

Bibliography

C. Frank Brockman – Trees of North America – Golden Field Guides from St. Martin’s Press, 2001

Adrian Bloom – Gardening with Conifers – Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd, 2001

Burton V. Barnes, Warren H. Wagner – Michigan Trees, A Guide to the Trees of Michigan and the Great Lakes Region – University of Michigan Press, 2004

LeRoy Abrams – Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States, vol. I – Stanford University Press, 1923