O, Tannenbaum! Are you best natural or artificial?

For these holiday antagonists, there can be no yule truce: It's either a natural tree grown at a farm or an artificial model that lasts year after year.

Choose wisely, each side says, because the other option can be downright dangerous, carrying risks for allergies, environmental damage and even lead.

The best choice, of course, depends on who you ask.

"Misinformation is the biggest competition," said Rick Dungey, spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association (NACTA), which represents growers of natural trees. "People think a lot of weird things about trees ... . They think they're allergic to them, or they're going to burst into flames or they're a hassle."

Thomas Harman, the founder and chief executive officer of Redwood City, California-based Balsam Hill, a manufacturer of artificial trees, agreed there is plenty of misinformation. He blames much of that on the natural tree group.

"There is a perception among the National Christmas Tree Association that artificial trees are stealing their business," said Harman, who is also president of the American Christmas Tree Association (ACTA). "Whether or not that's really true or Christmas tree use per capita has declined, they've historically put out a bunch of content about artificial trees that isn't true."

It's a dispute that has remained bitter even as the market for all Christmas trees, natural and artificial, has slumped since the start of the Great Recession in December 2007. That year, the NACTA reports that Americans bought 31.3 million natural trees and 17.4 million artificial trees. By 2010, the group said the number of natural trees sold had dropped to 27 million, and the number of artificial trees had more than halved, to 8.2 million.

ACTA, formed in 2008, disputes those figures, saying artificial tree sales average 10 million to 11 million a year.

ACTA won't reveal membership numbers but said members include merchants who sell both real and artificial trees. Harman said the organisation supports both kinds of trees, but the group's website is slanted to artificial ones.

In an effort to reverse the sales slump, NACTA asked the US Department of Agriculture to approve a 15-cent fee on each tree sold to raise money for natural tree promotion efforts. The United States Department of Agriculture backed the fee but delayed the move after criticism by conservative critics, who accused President Barack Obama of taxing Christmas trees.

In the great debate over natural or artificial trees, it's easy to find people with strong views on each side.