Fir tree

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Fir tree

             Fir tree (Abies) is a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen coniferous tree in the family Pinaceae. It is found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range. Firs are most closely related to the genus Cedrus (cedar); Douglas-firs are not true firs, being of the genus Pseudotsuga.
              All native species reach heights of 10–80 m (30–260 ft) tall and trunk diameters of 0.5–4 m (2–12 ft) when mature.
              Nordmann Fir, Noble Fir, Fraser Fir and Balsam Fir are popular Christmas trees, generally considered to be the best for this purpose, with aromatic foliage that does not shed many needles on drying out.