Abies

Nikko fir Abies homolepis, copyright MPF.

Belongs within: Pinaceae.

Abies, the firs, is a genus of conifers with erect seed cones native to the Northern Hemisphere. Leaf scars are smooth, round and flush with the surface of the stem (Hickman 1993).

Characters (from Hickman 1993): Young bark smooth, with resin blisters, mature bark thick, deeply furrowed; young branches appearing whorled; twig glabrous or hairy; leaf scars smooth, round, flush with surface; bud generally more or less spheric, generally <1 cm, more or less resinous. Leaves 2–9 cm, sessile, twisted at base to become two-ranked, often curved upward on upper twigs, generally more or less flat; upper surface with two longitudinal, whitish bands, midrib sometimes depressed; lower surface with or without whitish bands, midrib sometimes ridge-like. Seed cone erect, <23 cm, maturing first season; stalk generally absent; bracts, scales deciduous; bract included in scale or exserted, free from scale; axis persistent on stem. Seed with obvious resin deposits on surface; wing <2.5 cm. 2n=24 (where known).

<==Abies
    |--A. alba Miller 1768 SM14
    |--A. amabilis W85
    |--A. balsamea HP03
    |--A. bituminosa P92
    |--A. bracteata [incl. A. venusta] H93
    |--A. cephalonica RCT96
    |--A. concolor [incl. A. concolora var. lowiana] H93
    |--A. excelsa C55
    |--A. fabri MM12
    |--A. firma MM12
    |--A. grandis C84
    |--A. holophylla MM12
    |--A. homolepis MM12
    |--A. lasiocarpa H93
    |--A. magnifica F56
    |    |--A. m. var. magnifica H93
    |    `--A. m. var. shastensis H93
    |--A. mariesii T85
    |--A. nebrodensis R-CT01
    |--A. nephrolepis S00
    |--A. numidica EH06
    |--A. pectinata [incl. Pinus picea] C55
    |--A. pindrow N02
    |--A. procera M87
    |--A. religiosa C-MM-R07
    |--A. sachalinensis T03
    `--A. veitchii MM12
         |--A. v. var. veitchii A70
         `--A. v. var. shikokiana A70

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A70] Aoki, J. 1970. Descriptions of oribatid mites collected by smoking of trees with insecticides. I. Mt. Ishizuchi and Mt. Odaigahara. Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo 13 (4): 585–602.

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C-MM-R07] Castaño-Meneses, G., & B. E. Mejía-Recamier. 2007. Community structure of mites in Tillandsia violacea (Bromeliaceae) from a temperate forest of central Mexico. In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 657–664. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[C84] Cokendolpher, J. C. 1984. Revision of the harvestman genus Leptobunus and dismantlement of the Leptobunidae (Arachnida: Opiliones: Palpatores). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 92 (4): 371–402.

[EH06] Eckert, A. J., & B. D. Hall. 2006. Phylogeny, historical biogeography, and patterns of diversification for Pinus (Pinaceae): phylogenetic tests of fossil-based hypotheses. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 166–182.

[F56] Foote, R. H. 1956. Gall midges associated with cones of western forest trees (Diptera: Itonididae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 46 (2): 48–57.

[HP03] Hauck, M., A. Paul, S. Gross & M. Raubuch. 2003. Manganese toxicity in epiphytic lichens: chlorophyll degradation and interaction with iron and phosphorus. Environmental and Experimental Botany 49: 181–191.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[MM12] Mao, K., R. I. Milne, L. Zhang, Y. Peng, J. Liu, P. Thomas, R. R. Mill & S. S. Renner. 2012. Distribution of living Cupressaceae reflects the breakup of Pangea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109 (20): 7793–7798.

[M87] McAlpine, J. F. 1987. Pallopteridae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 839–843. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[N02] Negi, H. R. 2002. Abundance and diversity of moss communities of Chopta-Tunganath in the Garhwal Himalaya. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 99 (3): 418–433.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[RCT96] Ragusa Di Chiara, S., & H. Tsolakis. 1996. A. survey of phytoseiid mites (Phytoseiidae) associated with various plants in Sicily (Italy). In: Mitchell, R., D. J. Horn, G. R. Needham & W. C. Welbourn (eds) Acarology IX vol. 1. Proceedings pp. 253–256. Ohio Biological Survey: Columbus (Ohio).

[R-CT01] Ragusa-di Chiara, S., & H. Tsolakis. 2001. Phytoseiid faunas of natural and agricultural ecosystems in Sicily. In: Halliday, R. B., D. E. Walter, H. C. Proctor, R. A. Norton & M. J. Colloff (eds) Acarology: Proceedings of the 10^th International Congress pp. 522–529. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[SM14] Smith, G. B., & J. M. McRae. 2014. New species of subterranean silverfish (Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae: Atelurinae) from Western Australia's semi-arid Pilbara region. Records of the Western Australian Museum 29: 105–127.

[T85] Tsurusaki, N. 1985. Geographic variation of chromosomes and external morphology in the montanum-subgroup of the Leiobunum curvipalpe-group (Arachnida, Opiliones, Phalangiidae) with special reference to its presumable process of raciation. Zoological Science 2: 767–783.

[T03] Tsurusaki, N. 2003. Phenology and biology of harvestmen in and near Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, with some taxonomical notes on Nelima suzukii n. sp. and allies (Arachnida: Opiliones). Acta Arachnologica 52: 5–24.

[W85] Walter, D. E. 1985. The effects of litter type and elevation on colonization of mixed coniferous litterbags by oribatid mites. Pedobiologia 28: 383–387.

Last updated: 18 July 2021.