Abies delavayi

Scientific name: Abies delavayi   Franchet   1899

Synonyms: -

Common names: Delavay's fir, Delavay fir, Yuan bian zhong ( Chinese)

Description

Tree to 40 m tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) in diameter. Bark light gray, darkening, browning, flaking, and then becoming deeply ridged and furrowed with are. Branchlets hairless or transiently minutely hairy in the shallow grooves between the leaf bases. Buds 4-8(-12) mm long, coated with reddish brown resin. Needles arranged all around the twigs or, more commonly, concentrated to their sides and angled forward above them, (1-)1.5-3(-4.5) cm long, shiny dark green above, the tips blunt or notched. Pollen cones 20-35(-40) mm long, reddish purple. Seed cones oblong or barrel-shaped 6-11(-14) cm long, 3-4.5(-5.5) cm across, violet black with a thin waxy coating when young, maturing blackish brown. Seed body 5-8 mm long, the wing a little shorter.

Southwestern China -western Sichuan, southeastern Xizang (Tibet), northwestern Yunnan- and adjacent Myanmar. Forming pure stands in the subalpine belt or mixed with other conifers and hardwoods there and in the montane forest below;(1,500-)2,500-4000(-4,300) m. The climate is extremely wet, with cool summers and cold, snowy winters (annual precipitation ranges from 1,000 mm to 3,000 mm and more).                                                                                  

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

Logging has affected many areas although with the introduction of a logging ban in 1998 this problem has reduced, the species as a whole is considered Least Concern. It grows mixed with other conifers, such as Picea likiangensis, Picea brachytyla var. brachytyla, or in pure stands towards the tree limit. At lower elevations it is sometimes mixed with Tsuga chinensis, Tsuga dumosa, Juniperus formosana and broad-leaved trees, e.g. Betula albosinensis, Betula platyphylla var. szechuanica, and Quercus semecarpifolia. Abies delavayi, however, is less common with these trees than Abies forrestii. The Government of China has recently imposed a ban on logging in western China.

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.