Abies sachalinensis

Sakhalin fir ( Abies sachalinensis )

The Sakhalin fir ( Abies sachalinensis ) is a plant of the genus fir (Abies ) in the pine family ( Pinaceae ).

Description

The Sakhalin fir is a tree, the plant height reaches up to 15 meters. The trunk is smooth and almost white. The young shoots are slightly hairy and not furrowed branches and smooth. They are hairy gray or reddish gray. The bluish buds are very resinous, small and hemispherical rounded.

The needles are not parted and 3 to 4 inches long. They are about 1.5 millimeters wide. At the top there is no, or only at the top, stomatal lines.

The cones are green before ripening purple, between 5 and 7.5 inches long and have a diameter from 2.5 to 3 centimeters. The bracts are excellently and repulsed. The seeds ripen in September.

Dissemination

The natural range of the Sakhalin fir located on Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, a small occurrences exist also in Kamchatka. Abies sachalinensis thrives at altitudes up to 1600 meters. From Abies sachalinensis gracilis var exists only a very small, about 0.2 square kilometers large inventory in Semjatschik Valley in Ostkamtschatka.

Varieties

In addition to the Abies sachalinensis var nominotypischen taxon sachalinensis exist following varieties:

• A. sachalinensis var gracilis ( Comm ) Farjon
• A. sachalinensis var mayriana Miyabe & Kudo
• A. sachalinensis var nemorensis ( Mayr. ) Vossin, Putlitzstrasse & Meyer

Wood

The wood of the Sakhalin fir is light and soft. It is easily degradable and is mainly used for paper production and manufacturing of flight cases.

Swell

• Jost Fitschen: woody flora. 8th edition. Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg, 1987, ISBN 978-3-494-01151-6.
• Christopher J. Earle, 2010: Description of conifers.org - The Gymnosperm Database. (Section Description and systematics)