Giant/Grand Fir(Abies grandis)/Bosnia(wild harvest)

Olfactory qualities of Giant/Grand Fir(Abies grandis)essential oil/Bosnia(wild harvest)
The essential oil of Grand Fir displays an exhilarating fresh, green, nutty, sweet balsamic- resinous bouquet with very good radiant diffusiveness. There is a delightful fruity undertone beneath the surface of its coniferous bouquet. It is basically a top/heart note material but its coniferous/balsamic/fruity bouquet remains deep into the dryout phase extending its usefulness in a variety of perfume compositions

Blends well with allspice eo, co2 and abs; ambrette seed co2, eo and abs; artemisia oils; basil eo and abs; bay leaf eo; benzoin absolute; birch, sweet eo; birch tar eo; cabreuva eo; carrot see eo, co2 and abs; cedar oils and abs; cinnamon leaf eo; cistus eo and abs; citrus oils clary sage eo and abs clove bud eo, co2 and abs; cade eo; cascarilla eo; cypress eo and abs; davana eo, co2 and abs; fir eo's and absolutes; galbanum eo anabsguaicwood eo; hysopp eo; juniperberry eo and co2; labdanum eo and abs; laurel leaf eo and abs; mace eo and co2; marjoram sweet eo; myrtle eo; nutmeg eo, co2 and abs; oakmoss abs palmarosa eo; patchouli eo, co2 and abs; pimenta leaf eo; pine eo's and abs; rosemary eo, co2 and abs; sage eo and co2; sandalwood eo; siamwood eo; spruce eo's and abs; vetiver eo, co2 and abs; yarrow eo and co2; wintergreen eo

In perfumery invaluable in colognes ; forest accords; incense blends; sacred perfumes; oriental notes


Interesting fact about Giant/Grand Fir/Abies grandis
1.Grand fir provides good thermal and hiding cover, often close to water, for big game animals [108]. Young trees provide good cover for grouse and small mammals including squirrels, chipmunks, and pikas [127]. Grand fir's thick boughs provide shelter during rainstorms and provide roosting sites for grouse, pileated woodpecker, Williamson's sapsucker, pygmy nuthatch, Vaux's swift, and red crossbill [14,127,27,30]. Lists of bird and mammals that use grand fir in the Blue Mountains are available [180].

Old-growth live grand fir and grand fir snags provide nesting sites for woodpeckers, sapsuckers, deer mouse, bushy-tailed woodrat, American marten, fisher, spotted skunk, squirrels, and weasels [14,180,182]. Rats, mice, squirrels, weasels, and bears use downed grand fir logs and hollowed trunks as dens [14]. Pileated woodpecker and flammulated owl in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington select large-diameter live grand fir, especially trees with broken tops that are extensively decayed by Indian paint fungus (Echinodontium tinctorium), for nesting [2,180,26,31,32]. Most grand fir may not attain a large enough girth to be preferred pileated woodpecker nesting sites, however. On the Coram Experimental Forest of northwestern Montana, pileated woodpecker preferred nesting in large-diameter, fungi-decayed western larch, Pacific ponderosa pine, western white pine, and black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) over grand fir, which was less common and generally smaller in dbh than the preferred nest tree species [129].

2. The Salish of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, collected pitch from grand fir blisters, rubbed it into wooden implements, and scorched it to provide a varnished finish [184]. They made a decoction from the branches and cones to treat respiratory ailments; a poultice from the pitch to treat wounds, burns, and sore eyes; and a decoction of the bark, sap, and sapwood to treat gonorrhea [185].

3.The Okanagan people built canoes from grand fir bark and rubbed its pitch on paddles to give them a good finish. They also applied pitch to the back of bows to provide a secure grip.
Kwakwaka'wakw shamans wove branches into headdresses and costumes; they also used branches for scrubbing before rites and rituals. The Hesquiat made branches into incense and decorative clothing for wolf dancers. They also rubbed the pitch mixed with oil on their scalps as a perfume and to prevent baldness.

4. The name Abies is derived from the Latin abeo meaning "to rise" and refers to the great height attained by some species. Fir is derived from the Old English furh or fyrh or the Danish fyrr, meaning "fire", from its use as firewood.


Giant Fir in Literature
They were all afoot now descending swiftly, and the horses ramped down the trail with expectant haste, so that in less than an hour from timber-line they were back into the sunshine of the lower valley, and at three o’clock or thereabouts they came out upon the bank of an exquisite lake, and with a cheery shout McFarlane called out: “Here we are, out of the wilderness!” Then to Wayland: “Well, boy, how did you stand it?”

“Just middling,” replied Wayland, reticent from weariness and with joy of their camping-place. The lake, dark as topaz and smooth as steel, lay in a frame of golden willows—as a jewel is filigreed with gold—and above it the cliffs rose three thousand feet in sheer majesty, their upper slopes glowing with autumnal grasses. A swift stream roared down a low ledge and fell into the pond near their feet. Grassy, pine-shadowed knolls afforded pasture for the horses, and two giant firs, at the edge of a little glade, made a natural shelter for their tent.
The Forester's Daughter, by Hamlin Garland

She circled the segment of bay, climbed a low, rocky point, and found herself a seat on a fallen tree. Outside the lake heaved uneasily, still dotted with whitecaps whipped up by the southerly gale. At her feet surge after surge hammered the gravelly shore. Far through the woods behind her the wind whistled and hummed among swaying tops of giant fir and cedar. There was a heady freshness in that rollicking wind, an odor resinous and pungent mingled with that elusive smell of green growing stuff along the shore. Beginning where she sat, tree trunks rose in immense brown pillars, running back in great forest naves, shadowy always, floored with green moss laid in a rich, soft carpet for the wood-sprites' feet. Far beyond the long gradual lower slope lifted a range of saw-backed mountains, the sanctuary of wild goat and bear, and across the rolling lake lifted other mountains sheer from the water's edge, peaks rising above timber-line in majestic contour, their pinnacle crests grazing the clouds that scudded before the south wind.
Big Timber, by Bertrand W. Sinclair


Links to Abies grandis/Grand Fir/Giant Fir
Wikipedia article on Grand Fir
Description of Grand Fir
Monograph on Grand Fir