Abies kawakamii

Formosa fir (Abies kawakamii )

The Formosa - fir ( Abies kawakamii ) is a plant of the genus fir (Abies ) in the pine family ( Pinaceae ). It is widespread in Taiwan.

Description

The Formosa - fir grows as evergreen shrub or pyramidal tree that can reach the stature heights of 15 to 35 meters and diameter at breast height of 0.5 to 1 meter. It forms a straight, upright stem. The initially smooth, resinous, gray-white bark that later becomes scaly and gray - brown. The deeply grooved branches have initially a dense brownish fluffy haired, yellowish brown bark that is brown to brownish- gray in the second or third year. The spherical or egg-shaped winter buds are very resinous, brown to reddish with blunt, about 1 mm long bud scales.

The forward-facing outwardly and upwardly curved needles are radially or double row comb- like arrangements on the branches. The straight, strong grooved needles are 1 to 2.8 inches long and 1.5 to 2 millimeters wide. The needle top is colored light green. At the needle bottom you will find two white Stomatabänder and at the edges, there are two resin canals.

Fir trees are monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ), there are male and female cones on a copy. The male pins are cylindrical with a length of 1.5 cm. The almost sessile, dark purple cones are ovate to broadly cylindrical in shape with a length of 6 to 7.5 cm and a diameter of 3.7 to 4 cm and are colored purple - purple when ripe. The lobed seed scale covers approximately half as large Deckschuppe. The winged, blackish seeds are 7-9 mm long. The seed wing is approximately the same length as the seed.

Occurrence

The natural range of the Formosa - fir covers the mountains of Taiwan. They can be found there at altitudes 2400-3800 meters ( 2900-3950 feet ). The Shei - Pa, Taroko and Yushan National Park are good localities to see this kind.

System

The first description of Formosa - fir occurred in 1908 under the name Abies mariesii var kawakamii by Hayata Bunzo in the Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo, 25 ( 19 ), pp. 223-224, was f 14 Tokutaro Itō their 1909 Encyclopedia Japonica, 2, pp. 167 to the rank of a species Abies kawakamii. Abies kawakamii belongs to the sub-section in the Lateral section Balsamea within the genus Abies.

Threats and conservation

The Formosa - fir is listed in the IUCN Red List as "low risk". It is noted, however, that a re-evaluation of risks is required. The main risk is why the frequent forest fires are called.

Swell

• Liguo Fu, Nan Li, Thomas S. Elias & Robert R. Mill: Cycadaceae through Fagaceae. Pinaceae. In: Wu Zheng - Yi & Peter H. Raven (eds.): Flora of China. 4, Science Press and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, Beijing and St. Louis June 30, 1999, ISBN 9780915279708, Abies kawakamii, p 11 (" Abies kawakamii - Online", accessed 25 January 2011 ).
• Christopher J. Earle: Abies kawakamii. In: The Gymnosperm Database. December 19, 2010, accessed on 26 January 2011 ( English).