Abies pinsapo var. marocana

Scientific name: Abies pinsapo var. marocana (Trab.) Ceballos & Bolaño  1928

Synonyms:Abies marocana Trab., Abies pinsapo subsp. marocana (Trab.) Emb. & Maire, Picea marocana (Trab.) Trab.

Common names: Moroccan fir, Rif fir, Sapin du Maroc (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, resinous. Needles crowded above the twigs, with shallow resin canals, (0.6-)1-2(2.5) cm long, shiny dark green above. Leaves more ore less pectinately arranged, especially on lower branches, acute to acuminate, resin canals marginal. Pollen cones 5-7(-15) mm long, reddish purple. Seed cones 10-18 cm long, 3.5-5 cm wide, 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.

Rif Mountains near Chefchaouen, Morocco; 1,400-2,000 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered

(Abies pinsapo var. marocana currently has a very limited distribution and is threatened by fires, forest clearance and habitat degradation. It has also undergone a significant decline in the recent past. While the extent of occurrence (EOO) is less than the 100 km² threshold for Critically Endangered, there are two locations and the remaining subpopulations are not severely fragmented within the context of the most recent IUCN guidelines (IUCN 2010). The estimated area of occupancy (AOO) is 28 km2.  The population declined by approximately 70% between 1938 and 1994 due to logging, fires and forest clearance. This species is therefore listed as Endangered)

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.

Rootstock: Abies cephalonica