Abies fabri

Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Classis: Pinopsida
Ordo: Pinales
Familia: Pinaceae
Genus: Abies
Sectio: A. sect. Pseudopicea
Species: Abies fabri

Name

Abies fabri (Mast.) Craib

Reference

Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Edinburgh and Glasgow 11:278. 1919

Abies fabri (Faber's Fir) is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is endemic to Sichuan in western China, occurring on the sacred mountain of Emei Shan (from where it was first described) and westward to the Gongga Shan massif, growing at altitudes of 1,500–4,000 m.[1][2][3]

It is a tree growing to 40 metres tall, with a trunk up to a metre in diameter, and a conical to broad columnar crown. The shoots are yellowish-brown, hairless or slightly hairy. The leaves are linear, 1.5–3 cm long and 2–2.5 mm wide, glossy dark green above, and with two white stomatal bands below; the leaf margins are slightly revolute. The cones are cylindrical, dark purple when immature, ripening purple-blue, 5–11 cm long and 3–4.5 cm wide, with slightly exserted bracts.[1][3]

There are two subspecies:[1][2]

* Abies fabri subsp. fabri. Central and western Sichuan, in areas with heavy summer monsoon rainfall.
* Abies fabri subsp. minensis. Northwestern Sichuan, with a slightly drier climate.

Abies fabri is closely related to Abies delavayi and Abies forrestii, which replace it to the south and southwest respectively in southern Sichuan and Yunnan, and to Abies fargesii, which replaces it further north in Gansu.[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Rushforth, K. (1987). Conifers. Helm ISBN 0-7470-2801-X.
2. ^ a b Farjon, A. (1990). Pinaceae. Drawings and Descriptions of the Genera. Koeltz Scientific Books ISBN 3-87429-298-3.
3. ^ a b Flora of China: Abies fabri