Abies guatemalensis - Guatemalan fir description

Scientific name: Abies guatemalensis  (Alfred Rehder, 1939)

Synonyms: Abies guatemalensis subsp. ixtepejiensis (Silba) Silba,  Abies guatemalensis subsp. longibracteata (Debreczy & I.Rácz) Silba, Abies guatemalensis subsp. rushforthii (Silba) Silba, Abies guatemalensis subsp. tamaulipasensis (Silba) Silba, Abies guatemalensis subsp. zapotekensis (Debreczy, I.Rácz & G.Ramirez) Silba, Abies guatemalensis var. guatemalensis, Abies guatemalensis var. ixtepejiensis Silba, Abies guatemalensis var. longibracteata Debreczy & I.Rácz, Abies guatemalensis var. rushforthii Silba, Abies guatemalensis var. tacanensis (Lundell) Martínez, Abies guatemalensis var. tamaulipasensis Silba, Abies tacanensis Lundell, Abies zapotekensis Debreczy, I.Rácz & G.Ramirez

Common names: Guatemalan fir, Pashaque fir, Abeto de Guatemala, Pinabete (Spanish)

Description

Tree to 35(-45) m tall, with trunk to 1(-1,5) m in diameter. Bark grayish brown, breaking up somewhat with age. Branchlets somewhat hairy, especially near the tips on lower branches, grooved between the leaf bases. Buds 4-5 mm long, resinous. Needles arranged mostly to the sides in several ranks and with a few shorter needles angled forward above the twigs, (1-)2.5-5.5 cm long, shiny dark or light green above, the tip usually notched but sometimes bluntly pointed. Individual needles flat in cross section and with a resin canal on either side near the outer edge and touching the lower epidermis, without or with three or four discontinuous rows of stomates in the groove above near the tip and with 8-12 rows in each silvery white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 15-25 mm long, yellow. Seed cones oblong, (6-)8-10(-12) cm long, (2.5-)4-5.5 cm across, purple when young, maturing dark brown. Bracts from half as long as the minutely hairy seed scales and hidden by them to about as long and peaking out between them. Persistent cone axis narrowly conical. Seed body 8-10 mm long, the wing a little longer. Cotyledons five or six.

Pacific slope of southern Mesoamerica, from Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, and eastern Guerrero (southern Mexico) to Santa Barbara (western Honduras). Forming pure stands or, more commonly, mixed with other conifers and hardwoods on moist soils in the high mountains; (1,500-)3,200-3,800(-4,100) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered

Varieties: -

Attribution from: Conifers Garden