Balsam fir

Persistent chest cough with thick, hard-to-raise mucus in a person who feels chilled and sluggish

Fresh minor wound or crack in the skin where the sticky oleoresin is applied directly to seal and protect the tissue

Overview. Abies balsamea is a slender evergreen conifer of the pine family, native to cold, moist woodlands of the northeastern United States and Canada. The bark carries characteristic resin blisters that yield the clear, sticky oleoresin long known as Canada balsam, historically prized both as a medicine and as an optical mounting cement. Physiomedicalist and Eclectic practitioners of the nineteenth century used the resin, bark and young shoots as a warming, stimulating remedy for the chest, skin and urinary tract, while indigenous peoples of the region used the pitch topically on wounds and the needles as a tea rich in vitamin C.

Clinical Notes. The resin is the part most often reached for today, applied neat or in a salve to cuts, chapped skin, minor burns and hemorrhoids, where its sticky, antiseptic film protects the tissue while it heals. Some practitioners still use small internal doses of the tincture or resin for a lingering chest cold with thick mucus and a general feeling of coldness and sluggishness, on the reasoning that its warming, stimulating quality helps move stagnant secretions.

Properties and Uses. I. The balsam is stimulating and relaxing, chiefly influencing the kidneys and mucous membranes, acting rather slowly. Its relaxing power is greater in the fresh exudation than in that which has been long standing.

Description. Natural Order, Coniferae. Abies balsamifera of Micheaux; Pinus balsamea of Linnaeus; Picea of Loudon. Genus ABIES: Staminate catkins more or less clustered toward the ends, of the branches; scales peltate; stamens short, often sessile.