Abies cilicica

(Antoine et Kotschy) Carrière 1855

Common names

Toros göknarı [Turkish]; Cilician Fir, Syrian fir [English]; abete di Cilicia [Italian], sapin de Cilicie [French].

Taxonomic notes

Two subspecies, the type and Abies cilicica subsp. isaurica Coode et Cullen.

Description

"A narrowly pyramidal tree 25-35 m tall, to 210 cm in girth, with ascending branches. Bark ash-grey, smooth, becoming deeply fissured into scaly plates. Branchlets smooth, reddish yellow-grey to olive-brown, with scattered pubescence. Buds ovoid, non-resinous, chestnut-brown, scales keeled and free at the tips, 1-1.8 mm in diameter. Needles spreading upwards and forwards, or 2-ranked with a V-like parting, linear, dark green above, whitish green below, with 2-3 short lines of stomata above, in 6-7 lines below in narrow bands; 20-40 mm long by 1.5-3 mm wide, apex entire or slightly bifid. Female cone cylindrical, reddish brown, 15-30 cm long by 4-6 cm wide, apex bluntly pointed; scales fan-shaped, bracts hidden, 1/4-1/2 height of the scale, mucronate. Seeds reddish-brown, wing obovoid, to 2 cm long" (Silba 1986).

Distribution and Ecology

E Turkey: Antitaurus Mtns.; N Syria; Lebanon; at 1000-2100 m elevation (Silba 1986). Subspecies isaurica endemic to Turkey: the Isaurian Taurus (Conifer Specialist Group 1998). Hardy to Zone 5 (cold hardiness limit between -28.8°C and -23.3°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001, subspecies not identified).

Big tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Citations

Conifer Specialist Group. 1998. Abies cilicica ssp. isaurica. In: 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org, accessed 2009.04.17.

See also

Farjon (1990) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.