Fir

Firs are the genus Abies, evergreen conifers of the pine family, numbering somewhere between 48 and 65 living species on the mountains of North and Central America, Eurasia and North Africa. Most prefer cold country, high up or far north, and the genus has been introduced to Scandinavia and the British Isles. They are tall trees, commonly 40 to 60 metres, with a single straight trunk and branches set in whorls. Two features mark them out within their family: each needle springs singly from the twig on a round base, and the cylindrical seed cones stand upright like candles and fall apart on the branch once ripe. Kynes describes two species, the balsam or eastern fir, with curved dark needles and greyish-green cones touched with purple, and the European silver fir, whose cones ripen to reddish brown. The soft timber goes into paper pulp and plywood, and several species, balsam fir among them, are favourite Christmas trees. In northern Europe the fir was held to be king of the forest and home to powerful woodland spirits. Romanian mourners carried fir boughs at the head of a funeral as a sign of rebirth; in Silesia a branch on the stable door at May Day kept the cattle healthy; German households planted a small fir by the door before a wedding; and fir boughs decorating the house at Yule were thought to comfort any elves who called.