Canaan Fir - Abies balsamea var phanerolepis

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By Ricky Bates
Department of Horticulture, Penn State

Canaan fir, also called West Virginia balsam fir, is a little known tree that is native to isolated pockets in the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. Some have suggested that, during the last glacial period, a continuous fir population extended from North Carolina north along the Appalachian mountain range into Canada. As the climate changed, fir in the Appalachian mountains were replaced by other species at lower elevations, isolating balsam fir to the north, Fraser fir at higher elevations in Virginia and North Carolina, and Canaan fir at higher elevations in parts of Virginia and West Virginia. The tree takes its common name from the Canaan Valley northeast of Elkins, West Virginia.

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