Abies holophylla

Maxim. (1866)

Common names

Manchurian fir (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

This is a member of the large E Asian section Pseudopicea Hickel. Syn. Picea holophylla (Maxim.) Gordon, Pinus holophylla (Maxim.) Parl. ex A.P.de Candolle. A variety, Abies holophylla var. aspericorticea Y.Y.Sun (Sun and Yuan 2005), has not been generally accepted; it differs only in having flaky rather than scaly bark, and can probably be reduced to synonymy.

Description

"A narrowly conical tree 25-40 m. tall, 1.2-5 m. in girth, with horizontal branches. Bark scaly, gray or grayish-brown, becoming shallowly fissured. Branchlets smooth, shiny gray-brown to yellowish-gray. Buds acuminate, pinkish-brown, free from the leaves, slightly resinous, 1.2-1.8 mm. in diameter. Leaves spreading at right angles upwards and outwards above, pectinate below, bright green above, glaucous-green or grayish below; stomata usually absent above or in 1-2 short lines near the apex, in 7-10 lines below; 2-4 cm. long by 2 mm. wide, cross-section elliptic, spine-tipped, base contorted. Male strobili pale yellow tinted pink. Female cone cylindrical, resinous, apex bluntly rounded and somewhat depressed, blue-yellow-green then bright yellow-brown-gray, 12-14 cm. long by 4-5 cm. wide; scales smooth, broadly rounded; bracts hidden, about 1/2 height of the scale. Seeds cuneiform, greenish-yellow with a long, nearly quadrangular wing" (Silba 1986). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

Russia: Southern Ussuriland; China: Heilongjiang; N Korea; at 0-1500 m (Silba 1986, Cheng & Fu 1978, Vladimir Dinets e-mail, 1998.01.02). Hardy to Zone 5 (cold hardiness limit between -28.8°C and -23.3°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Remarkable Specimens

A tree >300 cm dbh and 52 m tall is reported from Chedjudo Island, Korea (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 1998.01.02).

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2026-01-07.

Observations

No data as of 2026-01-07.

Remarks

No data as of 2026-01-07.

Citations

Maximowicz, C. J. 1866. Diagnoses breves plantarum novarum Japoniae et Mandshuriae. Bulletin de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg, p.487. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2026.01.07.

Sun Yue-Yin and Yuan Xaio-Ying. 2005. A new variety of Abies Mill. from Heilongjiang Province, China Bulletin of Botanical Research, Harbin 25:3(264). Available: Bulletin of Botanical Research, accessed 2026.01.07.

See also

Eckenwalder (2009).

Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.
- Provides a detailed account, with illustrations.

Farjon (2010).

Vidakovic 1991.

Wu and Raven 1999.