Line drawing; for full size image go to the Flora of China (Wu and Raven 1999).

Common Names

Faxon fir (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: A. delavayi var. faxoniana Jackson; A. faxoniana Rehder et Wilson (Farjon 1990).

Description

A conical tree 20-40 m tall, to 1.5 m in girth, with horizontal branches. Bark dark grey and smooth, becoming fissured. Branchlets slightly grooved, slightly pubescent, red-brown or grey, turning yellow. Buds ovoid, apex obtuse, purple-brown, resinous, 8-9 mm in diameter. Leaves irregularly spreading, grooved and bright yellow-green without stomata above; green-white below with stomata in 8-14 lines; 10-35 mm long by 2-2.5 mm wide, nearly 2-ranked, straight or slightly curved, apex rounded or finely notched. Male cones red, to 10 mm long. Female cone broadly rounded, apex with a blunt point, ovoid or oblong, somewhat resinous, violet-purple or dark blue, 5-9 cm long by 3.5-4 cm wide; bracts exserted and reflexed, relatively narrow, somewhat spathulate. Seeds with a dark brown-purple nut and black to purple wing, 13-20 mm long (Silba 1986).

See Wu and Raven 1999 for a more current and detailed description.

Range

NE Burma; China: C Gansu, NW Sichuan; Tibet. At 2600-4000 m altitude with an optimum between 3400-3800 m according to Wang (1961).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

See Also

Cheng & Fu (1978) (as A. faxoniana).

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.conifers.org/pi/ab/faxoniana.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
Last modified on 2007.11.15