Common Names

Hickel fir (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: A. oaxacana Mart. (Silba 1986).

Description

"A conical tree 20-30 m. tall, with an irregular crown. Bark gray, furrowed into quadrangular plates. Branchlets dark brown to reddish, slightly pubescent. Buds globular or slightly ovoid, slightly resinous, scales obtuse. Leaves nearly 2-ranked, spreading widely, grooved above, dark shiny green above, 1.5-3.2 cm. long by 1-1.5 mm. wide, flattened below except near the base, margins somewhat revolute, glaucous below; stomata absent above, in 14-16 lines below; base twisted; apex often notched. Female cone cylindric-oblong, shortly pointed at the apex or obtuse, slightly resinous, on a peduncle 1 cm. long, dark brown to violet-brown, 7-12 cm. long by 3.5-7 cm. wide; scales suborbicular, margins denticulate; bracts slightly exserted, erect, triangular-ovoid. Seed with a nut 6-7 mm. long, wing orange-yellow to 1.3 cm. long" (Silba 1986).

Range

S Mexico: Veracruz, Guererro, Oaxaca, and Chiapas at 1650-3000m (Silba 1986).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

One study performed in Oaxaca (Naylor 1971) found generally unsatisfactory results: all sampled trees were young, complacent, and could not be crossdated. This finding was attributed to an insufficiently seasonal climate. Further work can be located at the Bibliography of Dendrochronology.

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

This species is listed as endangered by the Mexican government (NOM-ECOL-059-94).

Citations

Naylor, T.H. 1971. Dendrochronology in Oaxaca, Mexico: a preliminary study. Tree-Ring Bulletin 31:25-29. Available online at www.treeringsociety.org/TRBTRR/TRBvol31_25-29.pdf (accessed 2006.06.14).

See Also

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

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.conifers.org/pi/ab/hickeli.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
Last modified on 2006.06.14