Abies homolepis - Nikko fir description

Scientific name: Abies homolepis  Siebold et Zuccarini  1842

Synonyms: Abies brachyphylla Maxim., Abies brachyphylla var. tomomi (Bobbink & Atk. ex Rehder) Dallim. & A.B.Jacks., Abies finhonnoskiana R.Neumann ex Parl., Abies firma var. brachyphylla (Maxim.) Bertrand, Abies harryana W.R.McNab, Abies homolepis var. homolepis, Abies homolepis var. scottae McFarland, Abies homolepis var. tomomi Bobbink & Atk. ex Rehder, Abies tschonoskiana Regel, Picea brachyphylla (Maxim.) Gordon, Picea firma Mast., Picea homolepis (Siebold & Zucc.) Carrière, Picea homolepis (Siebold & Zucc.) Gord., Picea pinnosa Mast., Picea tschonofskiana (Regel) Mast., Pinus brachyphylla (Maxim.) Parl., Pinus finhonnoskiana Parl., Pinus harryana (W.R.McNab) W.R.McNab, Pinus homolepis (Siebold & Zucc.) Antoine, Pinus tschonoskiana Parl.

Common names: Nikko fir, Urajiro-momi(Japanese)

Description

Tree to 30(-40) m tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark gray, becoming browner and flaky with age. Branchlets hairless and shiny, deeply grooved between the leaf bases. Buds 3-5 mm long, moderately to heavily resinous. Needles arranged to the sides of the twigs in several rows, 1-2.5(-3.5) cm long, shiny dark green above, the tips sharply forked on young trees, simply notched or blunt on older ones. Individual needles flat in cross section and with a large resin canal in the center of each side of the leaf, without stomates above and with 11-13 lines of stomates in each white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 10-20 mm long, yellowish brown. Seed cones (7-)9-12 cm long, 3-4 cm across, dark purple when young, ripening purplish brown. Bracts about half as long as the seed scales and hidden by them (hence the scientific name “uniform scales”, in contrast to Abies firma). Persistent cone axis narrowly cylindrical. Seed body 6-9 mm long, the wing about as long. Cotyledons four (or five).

Central Honshū, Kii Peninsula, and Shikoku (Japan). Occasionally forming pure stands but more often mixed with numerous other montane forest conifers and fewer hardwoods in the elevational belt between Abies firma and Abies veitchii; (700-)1,000-1,800(-2,200) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Near Threatened

Varieties:

Abies homolepis ‘Aurea’
Abies homolepis ‘Aureovariegata’
Abies homolepis ‘Auslese Veredlung’
Abies homolepis ‘Danuš’  
Abies homolepis ‘Fastigiata’
Abies homolepis ‘F. R. Newman’
Abies homolepis ‘Havel’  
Abies homolepis ‘Kohout’s Mini’
Abies homolepis ‘Kohout’s Select’  
Abies homolepis ‘Malahide’
Abies homolepis ‘Molehill’
Abies homolepis ‘Nana’
Abies homolepis ‘Nefrit’
Abies homolepis ‘Nefrit’  
Abies homolepis ‘Pendula’
Abies homolepis ‘Prostrata’
Abies homolepis ‘Radka’
Abies homolepis ‘Scottiae’  
Abies homolepis ‘Shelter Island’
Abies homolepis ‘Tomomi’
Abies homolepis ‘Variegated’
Abies homolepis ‘Winter Gold’

 Attribution from: Conifers Garden