Answer: The Sub-Alpine Fir
The sub-alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) is found in most areas of Yukon. The territory adopted the tree as its symbol in 2001, in part because of its fame among the territory’s Aboriginal people for its healing powers. They would boil the needles to make a cold-fighting tea rich in vitamin C and use the sap to treat lung ailments.
What other names does this tree have?
It is also called Alpine fir or Canadian balsam. The old English name furh, the old Scandinavian fyri and the Danish fyr made it into the now-used fir. FIRE or FIREWOOD is it’s meaning. Looking at it’s latin name Abies lasiocarpa, we know that Abies means to rise and is referenced to the height some species reach. Lasiocarpa is Greek and means hairy or shaggy. Carpos means fruit and refers to the tree’s cones. The subalpine fir is in the Pinaceae (pine) family.
How would a botanist describe this tree?
It is rather a small evergreen tree that becomes shrub-like at timberline. The bark is greyish smooth and covered with resin-filled horizontal blisters. The needles are linear, about 5-20mm long, leathery, whitish beneath, blunt-tipped and turning upward. The cones sit erect on the branch, with the female cones oozing with sap and dwarfing the male cones which sit on the same branch. The female cones mature in their first year then quickly disintegrate, leaving the spike-like central stalk sticking up from the branch.
Where to find the Sub-Alpine Fir
This tree likes an acidic environment on mountain slopes, up to treeline. They’re found in British Columbia and up to just north of latitude 64.
And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William Shakespeare: As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 1
Harvest time and medicinal properties
Harvest the pitch in the spring and the bark and needles throughout the year. The needles have their highest Vitamin C content in mid-winter!
Many trees have medicinal properties that assist with respiratory ailments – trees take carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis and release the oxygen that humans breathe. The tree’s medicinal actions are many: antioxidant, antiseptic, diaphoretic, disinfectant, diuretic, emetic, expectorant, laxative, mucolytic, pectoral, rubefacient, stimulant and tonic.
Out of its bark, needles and pitch you can make cream, essential oil, a relaxing foot soak, hydrosol, infusion, liniment, oil, poultice, salve, a steam, syrup, tea and wash.
You will recognize the subalpine fir tree quite easily due to its grey, smooth and resin-filled horizontal blisters. The Northern First Nations “milk” the tree for the resin. It will be used to treat skin ailments such as boils, wounds, cuts, bug bites, and acne. Use it to get rid of phlegm, colds and flus, and to heal a sore throat. Chew the pitch to clean teeth, make it into an infusion to use as a mouth rinse or gargle and to treat bad breath. Take the flat needles and make a tea infusion to treat the coughing up of blood (first sign of tuberculosis) and as a laxative. Drink against chest congestion, to induce sweating and to treat a fever. Make a poultice or massage oil to treat sore muscles, aches and pains. Grind the needles fine and sprinkle on open cuts to heal wounds; sprinkle into your shoes to ward off foot odor or use in a foot bath, to literally keep you going all day long. The smell is uplifting – place a bowl with water and fir needles on your wood stove.
Can I use subalpine fir for food?
The fir is high in Vitamin C, so use the needles for tea. Nature has it all figured out – the needles are highest in Vitamin C in mid-winter, when we definitely need it. First Nations used to grind the dried inner bark into a powder, combined it with other flours to make bannock or bread.
Mythology
Ancient druids considered the subalpine fir a symbol of being upright, truthful and honest. The tree is a symbol of strength, constancy and renewal. In many cultures, the tree was associated with fertility, life and immortality.
“The Fir-Tree” by Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a fir tree that is never satisfied. As a young tree in a forest, it is not content with the sunlight and wind it receives, nor with its forest friends. Rather, the tree constantly wishes to be old and tall.
What is the difference between balsam fir and subalpine fir? Balsam fir is cold-hardy, shade tolerant, and will thrive in most soil types and moisture levels. Subalpine Fir is pyramidal tree often found growing naturally in areas with higher elevation.
Everything you Need to Know
Beverley Grey has graciously allowed me to us information from her wonderful book “The Boreal Herbal”. Thank you!
Get the book here.