West Virginia Seed Sources of Balsam Fir

Research Bulletin 1191-99

Upper-Surface Needle Color

During February 1996 and January 1997, evaluations were made of the color of the upper surfaces of needles of trees. A subjective rating system of 1 = yellow, 2 = green/yellow, 3 = yellow/green, 4 = green, and 5 = blue/green was used. In making comparisons, a sample from a single tree that was judged to have yellow/green foliage (rating 3.0) was compared with each individual tree in the planting, and a rating given based on the extent to which foliage color was better or poorer. Detailed data are presented for the 1996 ratings.

Differences Between Locations
Ratings were lowest (3.4, yellow/green to green) for North Carolina trees and best (3.8, near the green rating) for those from Blister Run and Stone Coal Run. Ratings of trees from Blister Swamp (3.5) and the two Canaan Valley origins (3.6) were at the yellow/green to green level (Table 6).

Differences Between Seed Sources
Average color of the upper surfaces of needles was best (4.17) for trees of SS-387 from Stone Coal Run. Four other families from that area also had ratings that were in the top one-third, while only one was in the bottom third. Families from Blister Run also had trees with relatively good upper-surface colors, with five of the top-rated trees being from that area and only one among the poorest-rated. Trees of SS-368 from Blister Swamp had the poorest rating (3.02), and seven of 10 trees from that area were among the one-third lowest-rated and two among the top group. Trees of both North Carolina collections were in the lowest-rated group. For Canaan Valley-State Park sources, three were in the top-ranked group and four in the bottom-ranked, while for Canaan Valley-Cortland Road collections, two were top-ranked seed sources, and three were in the lowest one-third (Tables 3, 4, 6).

Details of upper-surface needle color evaluations made in 1997 are not presented here. However, comparisons between evaluations showed that although ratings were slightly higher in 1997 (overall average of 3.70) than in 1996 (overall average of 3.61), ratings for individual trees were highly correlated (r = 0.78, probability < 0.001).

Differences Within Seed Sources
Standard deviations for upper-surface needle colors varied from 13 to 35 percent of individual seed-source means and was greatest for the two North Carolina origins (Table 6). For the West Virginia sources, the range in ratings for individual trees of SS-387, the most highly rated, were from 3.5 (yellow/green to green) to 5.5 (blue green to bluish), while for the lowest-rated family (SS-368), ratings ranged from 1.4 (yellow to green/yellow) to 4.5 (green to blue/green).