Abies delavayi
Delavays Fir ( Abies delavayi )
Delavays Fir ( Abies delavayi ) is a plant of the family (Pinaceae ). Its distribution area is located in southeast Asia.
- 6.1 Single References
Description
Delavays fir grows as evergreen tree, the plant height of 25 meters, in exceptional cases up to 40 meters and can reach breast height diameter of 1 to 1.5 meters. The crown is pyramidal. The rough, longitudinally fissured bark is gray -brown. Young branches have reddish-brown to brown bark that rarely has a hair. In two - to three-year branches, the bark turns darker.
The spherical winter buds are resinous. The dark green needles are 1.5 to 3 inches long and 1.7 to 2.5 millimeters wide. They are generally straight, curved or S-shaped. They are arranged in two rows in a spiral or star on the branches. At the needle bottom you will find two white Stomatabänder.
The flowering period includes the month of May. The short- stalked cones are formed cylindrical to ovoid - cylindrical. They are 6-11 inches long and 3-4 inches thick. To maturity in October they are black in color. The inverted egg-shaped seeds have a brown wings.
Distribution and location
The natural range of Delavays fir comprises the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, the northern Myanmar and Vietnam, as well as the northwest of Yunnan Province, the river valleys of Sichuan, to the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Delavays fir grows at altitudes 2400-4300 meters at sites with high annual rainfall between 1000 and 3000 mm. The sites are characterized by cool summers and cold, long winter. The floors are usually covered with snow from October to April. The species usually grows on gray-brown podzolic soils.
Delavays fir forms especially on north-facing slopes near the treeline pure stands or mixed stands with other conifer species such as the Sargent Spruce ( Picea brachytyla ) and the Likiang spruce (Picea likiangensis ). In lower elevations they usually forms mixed stands with the Red China birch (Betula albosinensis ), Betula platyphylla, Quercus semicarpifolia, the Formosan juniper (Juniperus formosana ), the Taiwan Hemlock ( Tsuga chinensis) and the Himalayan Hemlock ( Tsuga dumosa ).
System
Delavays fir is allocated within the genus of fir (Abies ) of section Pseudopicea and the subsection Delavayianae. It was named after its discoverer, the French missionary and plant collector Pierre Jean Marie Delavay who collected these of fir at altitudes 3500-4000 meters on Cangshan in Dali in Yunnan in April 1887. The description of the species Abies delavayi by the French botanist Adrien René Franchet was published in 1899. In this taxon, partly as a variety or subspecies within this type, several East Asian taxa were previously subsumed which are named differently today. Examples include Abies beshanzuensis, Abies fabri, Abies fargesii var faxoniana, Abies forrestii and Abies ziyuanensis.
Varieties
The species is divided into three varieties:
- Abies delavayi var delavayi the specific type. This variety is found in southeastern Tibet, Northwest Yunnan and the northern Myanmar. They can be found there at altitudes 3300-4300 meters.
- Abies delavayi var motuoensis Cheng et Fu comes in southeastern Tibet before at altitudes 3000-3800 meters. This variety differs from the specific type by the paler and densely rusty brown hairy young shoots and with 2 to 3.2 centimeters slightly longer needles that are less dense than the specific type.
- Abies delavayi var nukiangensis ( Cheng et Fu ) Farjon comes in northeastern India, northern Myanmar, North Vietnam, North-West Yunnan and Sichuan ago at altitudes 2400-3000 meters. It differs from the specific type of the more variable length, but with a length of up to 4.3 centimeters usually longer needles, which are also widely between 1.5 and 2.8 millimeters. The young shoots are purple-brown and hairless.
Use
The wood of fir Delavays is used as lumber and structural timber, besides also for furniture and paper making. From the bark tannin can be obtained.
Threats and conservation
Delavays fir is " not threatened " on the Red List of IUCN. It should be noted that a re-evaluation of risks is required.
Swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Abies delavayi. In: The Gymnosperm Database. February 24, 2011, accessed on 4 November 2011 ( English).
- Liguo Fu, Nan Li, Thomas S. Elias, Robert R. Mill: Abies delavayi. In: Wu Zheng -yi, Peter H. Raven (eds.): Flora of China. Volume 4: Cycadaceae through Fagaceae, Science Press / Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing / St. Louis 1999, ISBN 0-915279-70-3, p 48