Although needle lengths were measured on six-year-old trees in 1990 and 11-year-old trees in 1995, detailed measurement are presented for the 1995 measurements only.
Differences Between Locations
Average needle lengths measured on lateral limbs of trees in 1995 were significantly
shorter on the North Carolina origins (14.7 mm) than those for the five West
Virginia origins, which had average needle lengths of 18-19 mm (Table 2).
Differences Between Seed Sources
In general, differences in needle lengths of trees did not vary as greatly between
half-sib families of the West Virginia origins of balsam fir as did taper and
tree heights. Longest needles, 21.5 mm, were recorded for trees of SS-390 from
Stone Coal Run, and needles of three other families from that area were also
among the longest one-third, while three were among the one-third that were
shortest, including SS-393, which had the shortest needles (16.5 mm) of all
of the West Virginia origins (Tables 2, 3, 4).
Needles of trees from Blister Run families ranged from 17.0 to 19.1 mm in length, with only one having needles among the one-third that were longest, and six among the group that were shortest. For Blister Swamp families, needle lengths ranged from 17.1 to 18.8 mm, with five being among the shortest and one among the longest. As a group, trees of families of the two Canaan Valley collections were similar; only one (SS-402) was among the group having the shortest needles, while five from the State Park and six from Cortland Road were among those having the longest needles. Needles of trees of the two North Carolina collections ranked as the two shortest of all seed sources (Tables 2, 3, 4; Figure 9). Results of needle-length measurements made in 1990 are not reported here, but comparisons between 1990 and 1995 needles showed that the average for all sources was only about 1 mm longer in 1995 than in 1990, and lengths on individual trees were highly correlated (r = 0.82, probability < 0.001).
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| Figure 9. Variation in needle lengths and configuration on individual trees and seed sources: 1 = SS 4101, North Carolina; 2 = SS 363, Blister Run; 3 = SS 366, Blister Swamp; 4 = SS 393, Stone Coal Run; 5 = SS 416, Canaan Valley-Cortland Road; 6 = SS 372, Blister Swamp; 7 = SS 398, Canaan Valley-State Park; 8 = SS 390, Stone Coal Run. |
Differences Within Seed Sources
Although the variation in standard deviations for needle lengths was relatively
small, ranging from only 8 to 17 percent of seed-source means, there were individual
trees having relatively large deviations from the average (Table 2). For example,
there was approximately a two-fold (100 percent) difference in needle lengths
of individual trees for seed sources having both the longest (SS-390) and shortest
(SS-394) needles (Figure 9).