Scientific name: Abies hidalgensis Debreczy, I.Rácz & Guízar 1995
Synonyms: -
Common names: Hidalgo fir (English), Abete de Hidalgo (Spanish)
Description
Tree to 18(-25) m tall, with trunk to 0.4-0.8 m in diameter. Bark smooth, light grey in young trees, on large trunks breaking into irregular, large plates, thick, inner bark red. Branches spreading and ascending, higher orders descending in the lower part of the tree, forming a columnar-conical crown. Foliage branchlets robust, smooth or ridged and grooved on leading shoots, new shoots densely pubescent with short, yellowish brown hairs. Vegetative buds small, partly hidden by short, incurving leaves, slightly resinous; bud scales triangular. Leaves pectinately arranged, distichous, shortest on the upper side of branchlets, (1-)3-5(-6) cm long, linear, curving slightly downward or forward, shortly bifid or emarginate at apex, lustrous dark green or dull greyish green, with white stomatal bands on the abaxial side; stomata in few to several lines on the upper side, in two white bands below separated by a green midrib; resin ducts 2-5, medial, on coning branches up to 7. Pollen cones lateral, crowded, 10-12 mm long, yellow, with puberulent microsporophylls. Seed cones lateral, erect, short pedunculate, cylindrical, 6.5-8 cm long, 3.5-4 cm wide, pruinose green at maturity, apex obtusely rounded or slightly umbilicate; cone rachis narrowly conical. Seed scales flabellate to wide cyathiform, green to greyish green, densely velutinous with very short, white, appressed hairs; bracts short, 5-8 mm long, spathulate, margins serrate, without a protruding cusp, entirely included. Seeds narrowly triangular with resin blisters, seed wings yellowish grey.
Endemic to Mexico: Hidalgo (canyon near village of Metepec); 2,000-2,300 m.
Conservation Status
Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable
More research is needed to establish beyond doubt the taxonomic distinctiveness, the approximate size of the population, and the extent of occurrence and area of occupancy. On the basis of what is known, 15+ years after its discovery, an assessment of Vulnerable under D2 reflects the fact that it is only known from a single locality with a small population that could be vulnerable to stochastic events.
This species was described and named as new in 1995 from a single location in Hidalgo, Mexico. Its distribution beyond the type locality remains unknown and no subsequent collections have been assigned to this new species.
Grows in cloud forest with Alnus firmifolia, Buddleia cordata, Cupressus lusitanica, Pinus patula, Pinus teocote, Sambucus mexicana, etc.
No current threats have been identified but if this taxon does stand up to taxonomic scrutiny and if it remains only known from one location, as at present, stochastic events such as a major fire could put the species at extreme risk.
No uses have been recorded for this species. It has not been taken into cultivation. No conservation actions are known to have taken place.
Cultivars
Not known
References
- Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
- Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland
Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.