Abies durangensis - Durango fir description

Scientific name: Abies durangensis  Martínez  1942

Synonyms: Abies durangensis subsp. neodurangensis (Debreczy, I.Rácz & R.M.Salazar) Silba, Abies durangensis var. durangensis, Abies neodurangensis Debreczy, I.Rácz & R.M.Salazar

Infraspecific taxa: Abies durangensis var. coahuilensis (I.M.Johnst.) Martínez  1963

Common names: Durango fir, Abete de Durango (Spanish)

Description

Tree to (20-)40 m tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark gray, darkening, reddening, and becoming deeply furrowed with age. Branchlets hairless or with short hairs in the deep grooves between the leaf bases. Buds 4-5 mm long, resin-coated. Needles arranged to the sides of and angled forward above the twigs, (1.5-)2.5-5(-6.5) cm long, shiny light green above, the tip rounded or bluntly pointed. Individual needles flat or a little plump in cross section and with a resin canal on either side touching the lower epidermis near the edge, without stomates above or with (one to) three to five incomplete lines of stomates in the groove near the tip and with 4-10 lines in each white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 10-20 mm long, purplish red. Seed cones cylindrical, 5-9(-11) cm long, 3-4(-4.5) cm across, green when young, maturing yellowish brown. Bracts from half as long as the hairy seed scales and hidden by them to about as long and peeking up between them. Persistent cone axis narrowly cylindrical. Seed body 6-8(-10) mm long, the wing 1.5-2 times as long. Cotyledons five to eight.

Northwestern and north-central Mexico from Chihuahua and Coahuila to northwestern Michoacán. Mixed with pines (Pinus), oaks (Quercus), and other conifers and hardwoods on deep, moist, rich soils of mountain ravines and canyons; (1,450-)1,800-2,500(-2,900) m. The climate is moist and cool, especially on N-facing slopes.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

Varieties: -

Attribution from: Conifers Garden