Forest of A. pinsapo growing at 1400 to 1700 m elevation on a north slope in the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves, Ronda Mountains, Spain [Jose Angel Campos Sandoval].

Foliage of A. pinsapo in the in Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves, Spain [Jose Angel Campos Sandoval].

Very young ovulate cones on a tree in the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves [Jose Angel Campos Sandoval].

Mature tree in the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves [Jose Angel Campos Sandoval].

A very large tree, about 30 m tall, in the Parque Natural Sierra de las Nieves [Jose Angel Campos Sandoval].

map

Range of Abies pinsapo (Atlas Florae Europaeae 1998).

Abies pinsapo

Boiss. 1838

Common Names

Pinsapo (J.A.C. Sandoval e-mail 2006.05.21), Spanish silver spruce (van Gelderen et al. 1986), Spanish fir (Vidakovic 1991).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: A. hispanica Champ., A. baberiensis Mortet, A. lusenbeana Hort. & Angl. (Vidakovic 1991). Some authorities (e.g., (Silba 1986)) treat the African populations A. tazaotana and A. marocana as varieties or subspecies.

Description

"A tree up to 25-30 m high and up to 1 m in diameter. Crown conical. Branched to the ground, branches horizontal. Bark dark gray, on older trees longitudinally fissured. Shoots red-brown, glabrous. Buds ovate, obtuse-rounded, very resinous. Needles arranged radially around the shoots, thick, tough, 8-15 mm long, twisted from base to the apex, dark green, slightly pointed, upper surface with stomata and lower side with 2 whitish stomata bands; persisting on the tree for 11-13 years; resin ducts medial and this is what distinguishes this fir from the two related African firs, A. marocana and A. tazaotana. Flowers appear in April and May, male strobili dark red and female inflorescences brown-green, 2-3 cm long. Cones cylindrical, 10-16 cm long, 3-5 cm thick, light brown, maturing in September and October; seed scales 2.5 cm wide, triangular, with entire margin; bract scales only 1/4 to 1/3 of the length of seed scales and do not protrude. Seed obovate, 6-10 mm long, while the wing is twice this size; 1000 seeds weigh cca 50 g. Cotyledons 5-8" (Vidakovic 1991).

Range

S Spain: indigenous only in a limited and disjunct range in the Sierra de Ronda (part of the Cordillera Penibetica) (E-mail from Gines Garcia Galera, 28-Mar-1998), at 1000-1800 m. "As opposed to the silver fir it tolerates dry and warm sites. It can grow on various types of soil and it is quite adaptable in this regard" (Vidakovic 1991).

Big Tree

Oldest

"This fir can attain an age of over 300 years" (Vidakovic 1991).

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

"Seed bearing begins in the 25th to 35th year. Trees in natural stands in Spain bear a full seed crop every 3 to 5 years. Solitary plants may yield as much as 100 kg of cones per tree. 1 kg of cones contains 8-9 cones out of wich [sic] 250 g of seeds is extracted, i.e. cca 500 seeds. On the average, about 20,000 seeds are contained in 1 kg. Germination rate is, according to data from Spain (Catalan and Pardos, 1977) 50-60 percent, while in trees which are grown in other countries it is somewhat less. This fir may be successfully propagated by grafting" (Vidakovic 1991).