Abies spectabilis description

Trees at Tiengboche, Nepal [Vladimir Dinets].

photograph

"[P]hotographed in Nepal on the Milke Danda Range" (van Gelderen et al. 1986).

photograph

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

Abies spectabilis (D. Don) Spach 1841

Common Names

East Himalayan fir (Vidakovic 1991).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Pinus spectabilis D. Don 1825; Pinus webbiana Wall ex D. Don in Lambert 1828; A. webbiana (Wall ex D. Don) Lindl. 1833; Picea webbiana (Wall ex D. Don) Loudon 1838 (Farjon 1998); A. chiloensis Hort.; A. chilrowensis Hort.; A. densa Griff. (Vidakovic 1991). Silba (1986) describes a variety densa, while Vidakovic (1991) describes a variety brevifolia.

"This species hybridizes freely with A. pindrow forming intermediate populations in the altitudinal middle zone of their common distribution" (Vidakovic 1991).

Description

"A tree attaining in the E. Himalaya a height of 60 m. Crown broadly conical. Branches horizontally spreading. Bark dark gray, rough and scaly. Shoots red-brown, deeply grooved, pubescent in the grooves. Buds large, globose, resinous. Needles on the upper side of the shoot arranged in several ranks, leaving a V-shaped depression between them, 2-6 cm long, with emarginate apex; upper surface dark green and glossy, with 2 broad stomata bands beneath. Cones cylindrical, 14-20 cm long and about 7 cm thick, violet-purple when young, later brown; seed scales 1.5-2 cm wide; bract scales concealed" (Vidakovic 1991).

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

Range

Afghanistan: Hindu Kush; Tibet; India: Karakoram & Kashmir Himalaya; Nepal (Farjon 1998); Sikkim & Bhutan at 2500-4000 m (Vidakovic 1991).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

"[V]ar. brevifolia (Henry) Rehd.: needles only about 3 cm long, stomata bands gray; shoots less grooved and gray, bark smooth. Occurs in the northwest Himalaya" (Vidakovic 1991).