Abies pinsapo var. tazaotana

Scientific name: Abies pinsapo var. tazaotana  (Côzar ex Villar) H.del Vill., Pourt & Trump  1954

Synonyms: Abies pinsapo subsp. tazaotana (Côzar ex Villar) Govaerts, Abies tazaotana

Common names: Tazaotan fir, Mt Tazaot fir (English), Sapin de Tazaot (French)

Description

Tree to 20-30 m tall, with trunk to 0.8(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark grayish brown, becoming deeply ridged and furrowed with age. Branchlets hairless, often shiny, grooved between the leaf bases. Bud scales loose, smooth-edged, nonresinous. Needles crowded above the twigs, with shallow resin canals and one or two inconspicuous lines of stomates above, (0.6-)1-2(2.5) cm long, shiny green above, the tip sharp to blunt, rounded, or even slightly notched. Pollen cones 5-7(-15) mm long, reddish purple. Seed cones cylindrical, (9-)12-18(-25) cm long, 3.5-5(-6) cm across, greenish, yellowish, or reddish brown when young, maturing yellowish to purplish brown. Seed body 7-10 mm long, the wing up to 1.5 times as long.

Occurs only on Mt. Tazaot in the Rif Mountains, SW of Tetuan, Morocco; 1,400-2,100 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered

Abies pinsapo var. tazaotana currently has a very limited distribution and is threatened by fires, forest clearance and habitat degradation.

This species is therefore listed as Endangered.

There are no accurate figures for the number of mature individuals or the overall size of the population.

In 1977 most of the forests on Jebel Tazaot was destroyed by fire. A second fire in 2002 damaged part of the remaining forest and there has been little regeneration since then.

Restricted to Mt. Tazaot SW of Tetuan in N Morocco and some neighbouring ridges and heights, this variety is the most restricted in its area of occupancy (AOO) but exact figures are not known.

Cultivars: -

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.