Abies nordmanniana description

Trees in the Teberda Nature Reserve, Caucasus; Picea orientalis on hillslope in distance [Vladimir Dinets].

photograph

Cones (van Gelderen et al. 1986).

Selected firs of the Mediterreanean region.
A. cilicica = Dark green.
A. marocana = Dark red.
A. nordmanniana = Purple (Vidakovic 1991).

Abies nordmanniana (Steven) Spach 1841

Common Names

Caucasian fir; Pikhta kavkazkaya (Farjon 1990).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus nordmanniana Steven 1838; Picea nordmanniana (Steven) Loudon 1842; Pinus abies var. nordmanniana (Steven) Muell. 1871; Abies leioclada (Steven) Gord.; A. pectinata var. leioclada (Steven ex Endl.) Carr. 1855. One subspecies, equi-trojani (Aschers. et Sint. ex Boiss.) Coode et Cullen (syn: A. pectinata Lam. et DC. var. equi-trojani Aschers. et Sint. ex Boiss.; A. bornmuelleriana Mattf. and A. cephalonica var. graeca (Fraas) Liu) (Farjon 1990).

Vidakovic observes that: "[a]ccording to Flous (1936), A. bornmüelleriana is a hybrid between Greek and Caucasian fir, while Mattfeld (1930) believes it is a transitional type between the silver fir and Greek fir" (Vidakovic 1991). Vidakovic suggests that "throughout the entire Caucasus and north Turkey only one species occurs--A. nordmanniana" (Vidakovic 1991).

Farjon provides some further insights to the taxonomic disputes about this group of firs, noting that subspecies, equi-trojani "has been treated as a species by Mattfeld (1925). Earlier proposals to relate it to A. cephalonica or even A. alba have been abandoned by Davis et al. (1965) and Nitzelius (1969), but were again made by Liu (1971)" (Farjon 1990). He also concludes that "[t]he geographically separated populations in W and N Turkey, described under the above mentioned names and at various taxonomic levels, are found to be entirely clinal (Nitzelius, 1969)" (Farjon 1990).

Description

Evergreen tree to 61 m tall, densely branched from ground up, branches regularly arranged. Bark grey-brown, smooth with resin blisters until very old. Needles dense, directed forward, 20-30 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, apex rounded and notched, lustrous dark green above, 2 white stomatal bands below, buds not resinous. Cones red-brown, 15 cm long and 5 cm wide, cylindrical (Oregon State University 2003, University of Connecticut 2001).

Range

The typical subspecies occurs in W Caucasia (Abkhazia and Georgia) and in the mountains of NE Turkey and N Turkey (Paphlagonia). Introgression with ssp. equi-trojani forms in the western part of its range. It grows in mountains around the E Black Sea at 900-2100 m, on silicic soils. The climate is continental and wet, with annual precipitation of 1000-3000 mm. It occurs in pure stands or mixed with Picea orientalis, Pinus sylvestris, Fagus orientalis, Acer trautvetteri, Carpinus caucasica, Ulmus elliptica, Acer pseudoplatanus, Tilia caucasica, Taxus baccata and Rhododendron ponticum (Farjon 1990). Hardy to USDA Zone 4 or 5.

Ssp. equi-trojani grows in pure stands as isolated relict populations on N slopes of high mountains in W Turkey and on Ulu-Dagh in Bithynia. It prefers calcareous soils (Farjon 1990).

Big Tree

Mzymta River, Caucasus National Reserve, Russia (78 m tall, 360 cm dbh) (Vladimir Dinets e-mail 2-Jan-1998). If accurately measured, this is the largest Abies known. However, it may be that the 360 cm figure represents girth rather than diameter. Outside of its native range, a specimen at Cragside, Northumberland (U.K.) is 47 m tall with a 107 cm dbh, and another at Endsleigh, Devon (U.K.) is 32 m tall with a 165 cm dbh (Mitchell et al. 1990).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

On 2003.09.02, I received the following e-mail, which is here quoted largely unedited (although I did help the author a bit with his English):

"I am Irakli Lekvinadze from the Republic of Georgia (Caucasia). I have recently read your web site and decided to co-operate with you. I am your colleague and I provide my own family business. I am busy with growing Abies Nordmanniana. Every year in September and October with the employeed local peasants I gather cones in the high mountain region "Racha" (where these trees grow wild), mill the cones and grow the trees. I sell them at Christmas. Despite the fact that peasants do not ask for much as their salary and the prices of the trees and seeds are low, my business is not large. This has its double reason: For the one hand Georgia is in the group of developing countries and the huge part of the population is still in the extreme poverty, so only some afford to buy and decorate trees at Christmas Eve, and for the other, there are some people who unconsciously cut trees breaking law and destroying the nature. These very people do not leave me the chance to increase by business. It is possible to get much more seed without making any harm to the environment and therefore I am offering you cooperation. I am able to deliver Abies Nordmanniana seeds in very cheap price. ... If you find my offering interesting, please, contact me immediately. ... E-mail: irakligrinwood@rmbler.ru"

Observations

Remarks

Nominally discovered by Alexander Von Nordmann, German botanist (1803-66), who introduced it to western Europe in 1838 (Oregon State University 2003).

Citations

Flous, F. 1936: Classification et evolution d'un groupe d'Abietinées. Travaux Labor. Ford. Toulouse, Tome I, Vol. II, Article XVIII.

Mattfeld, J. 1930: Über hybridogene Sippen der Tannen. Bibliotheca Botanica 100:1-84, Stuttgart.

Oregon State University. 2003. Landscape Plants, Vol. 2. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/abno.htm (2-Sep-2003).

University of Connecticut. 2001. University of Connecticut Plant Database. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/a/abinor/abinor1.html (2-Sep-2003).