Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir.

Fraser Fir was brought to the attention of botanical science by the Scottish plant collector John Fraser (1750–1811) who undertook several botanical explorations in eastern North America in his lifetime. Among his other notable introductions from the region are the eponymous Magnolia fraseri, and Rhododendron catawbiense (Lindsay 2005). He introduced his fir to cultivation in c. 1807 when he sent seed to Lee’s Nursery in Hammersmith, London. It was formally described a few years later and named in Fraser’s honour as Pinus fraseri, but it would not go down as one of his finer introductions. Bean managed to find it within himself to admit that ‘like A. balsamea, it is attractive when young’ but only after he had savaged it by saying ‘No silver fir ever introduced has proved of less value in English gardens than this, or shorter-lived’ (Bean 1976).

Perhaps if he had spent more time in Scotland Bean would have been kinder to A. fraseri – now as then it prefers the cooler, more humid Scottish collections to those of southern England, and besides being attractive when young it remains so for longer in climates to which it is better suited. Examples so attesting may be found in northern European collections, for example in the Gothenburg Botanic Garden, Sweden (pers. obs. 2019) and in the Woodland Garden at Ardkinglas, Argyll, UK (pers. obs. 2020). Fraser Fir can grow extremely quickly in youth, putting on over 60 cm in a single season, and it can also cone from a young age, adding to its value as a small ornamental tree. This is perhaps just as well as it has enjoyed a popularity boom in Europe in recent years as a species of Christmas tree. Most of this stock will of course be cut from field-grown trees, but a proportion will be offered for sale as ‘living trees’ in pots and then planted in gardens, so it doesn’t seem outlandish to suggest that Fraser Fir will follow A. nordmanniana in becoming an increasingly common sight in suburban gardens in western and northern Europe.

Even in optimum conditions, however, it would be unreasonable to expect Fraser Fir to remain attractive for more than perhaps 40 or 50 years, hence it will be important, where aesthetics are the only consideration, to be ruthless and not let them outstay their welcome, removing them before they begin their sharp decline to decrepitude (to borrow a favoured word from W.J. Bean). Fraser Fir has suffered substantially in the wild due to devastating attack by Balsam Woolly Adelgid (Adelges piceae), an invasive alien pest that was first recorded in wild populations in 1957, and this is also a problem in Christmas tree plantations in the USA, and in general cultivation in some parts of Europe, too (Farjon 2019). Another notable threat is the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi which has infested plantations in the USA and caused almost 100% mortality in young trees (Kobliha et al. 2013). Fraser Fir is worth over $100 M per annum to the Christmas tree industry in North Carolina alone, hence growers have sought to circumvent this problem by hybridising A. fraseri with other species that have demonstrated resistance to P. cinnamomi, notably the Mediterranean species A. cephalonica and A. cilicica (Kobliha et al. 2013).

Some important introductions to ex-situ conservation collections have been made in recent years. Most notable in a UK context are those of Bedgebury National Pinetum, introduced in 2006 under various numbers assigned to the collector code CRDL, which received a broad distribution. Being a species that favours cooler northern regions even in a UK context, large numbers were sent for onward distribution by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. There are now young trees in multiple Scottish collections including Benmore and Dawyck Botanic Gardens, and in the north of England at the University of Durham Botanic Garden (BG-BASE data 2020). Given the short-lived nature of the species in cultivation, though, such collections can only be seen as a short-term insurance policy, though clearly still of great value.

Several cultivars have been selected; most are dwarfs, and all appear confined to North American cultivation. A hybrid between Fraser and Balsam Fir is discussed under A. balsamea.