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Scientific name: Abies vejarii Martínez 1942
Synonyms: Abies vejarii var. vejarii, Abies vejarii subsp. vejarii
Infraspecific taxa: Abies vejarii var. macrocarpa Martínez 1948 , Abies vejarii var. mexicana (Martínez) T. S. Liu 1971
Common names: Vejar fir, Vejar’s fir, Monterrey fir (English), Hayarin, Abeto de Vejar (Spanish)
Tree to 40 m tall, with trunk to 0.5(-1) m in diameter. Bark gray, becoming browner and breaking up into scales and then ridges and furrows with age. Branchlets hairless or slightly hairy in the shallow grooves between the leaf bases. Buds 3-5 mm long, thickly coated with resin. Needles arranged to the sides of and angled forward above the twigs, or radiating all around on branches bearing seed cones (1-)1.5-2.5(-3) cm long, dark green to waxy grayish green above, the tip bluntly to sharply pointed. Individual needles flat in cross section and with a resin canal on either side touching the lower epidermis near the margin, usually with 7-10 broken lines of stomates over the surface above and with 5-10 lines in each white stomatal band beneath. Pollen cones 5-10 mm long, red. Seed cones oblong to almost spherical, 6-10(-15) cm long, 4-5(-7) cm across, dark purple when young, maturing blackish brown. Bracts a little shorter to a little longer than the minutely fuzzy seed scales and hidden by them or sticking up between them. Persistent cone axis narrowly conical. Seed body 8-12 mm long, the wing a little shorter to a little longer. Cotyledons four to six.
The species name honors Octavio Vejar Vázquez, who was Mexico’s minister of public education, responsible for promotion of the arts and sciences, during the presidency of Manuel Avila Camacho (1940 - 1946), when it was discovered and described.
Sierra Madre Oriental of northeastern Mexico from southwestern Coahuila to southwestern Tamaulipas. Mixed with pines (Pinus), oaks (Quercus), and other conifers and hardwoods on mountain slopes and in high canyons; 1,900-3,000(3,300) m.
Red List Category & Criteria: Near Threatened
Although all three varieties taken separately qualify under criterion D2 for Vulnerable, taken together the species as a whole is just too widespread and occurs in too many locations. It would take the removal of several stands (localities sampled) by e.g. destructive forest fires, before the species would qualify for Vulnerable, it is therefore assessed as Near Threatened (almost qualifies for listing as Vulnerable under criterion D2).
The population is likely to be decreasing through wildfires and deforestation rather then logging. The most obvious threat to this species is the occurrence of devastating wildfires.
Abies vejarii is a high mountain species, occurring between (1,900-)2,800 m and 3,300 m a.s.l. on steep mountain slopes near the summits or in cool ravines. The soils are usually poor in humus content, but moist; the climate is cool, with relatively dry summers and wet winters. The species is commonly associated with various species of Pinus and with Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca, also with Quercus spp.; Cupressus arizonica and Picea engelmannii subsp. mexicana (another endemic relict taxon) have been reported with Abies vejarii var. mexicana.
This species and its infraspecific taxa are relatively rare trees with limited distribution, consequently their importance as timber trees is negligible. The species (including its infraspecific taxa) has been introduced to cultivation in the USA and Europe, but it remains restricted to arboreta and other plant collections despite its attractiveness and suitability especially in regions with warm summers and mild, wet winters. Cultivation from wild origin seed of var. mexicana would under appropriate circumstances contribute to ex situ conservation of this threatened taxon.
Some stands of this species occur within protected areas, such as on Cerro Potosí.
Abies vejarii ‘Mountain Blue’ Abies vejarii ‘Serpent’
Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.
