| Sicilian fir | |
|---|---|
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| Abies nebrodensis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Abies |
| Species: | A. nebrodensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Abies nebrodensis (Lojac.) Mattei | |
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| Natural range | |
Abies nebrodensis, the Sicilian fir, is a fir native to the Madonie mountains in northern Sicily.
It is closely related to silver fir, Abies alba , which replaces it in the Apennine Mountains of Italy and elsewhere further north in Europe; some botanists treat Sicilian fir as a variety of silver fir, as Abies alba var. nebrodensis. Needle morphology and Genetic studies showed ancient relationships of Abies nebrodensis with southern Italy Abies alba, Abies cephalonica and Abies numidica.
It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to 15–25 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. [1]
The leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5–2.5 cm long and 2 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick, glossy dark green above, and with two greenish-white bands of stomata below. The tip of the leaf is blunt with a notched tip, but sometimes with a pointed tip, particularly on shoots high on older trees. The cones are 10–16 cm long and 4 cm broad, with about 150 scales, each scale with an exserted bract and two winged seeds; they disintegrate when mature to release the seeds.
Despite its scientific name, the species is of Mt. Scalone in the Madonie Mountains in the north-central part of Sicily. [2]
It occurs at altitudes of 1400–1,600 metres. [1] It is limited to the steep, dry slopes.
As a result of deforestation, it is now extremely rare, with only 27 mature trees and a few seedlings are surviving in situ; replanting programmes are meeting with limited success due to heavy grazing pressure by livestock belonging to local farmers. Anyway, assisted migration programmes are being carried out by the University of Palermo as well as by the CREA Research Centre for Forestry and Wood of Arezzo in order to preserve the gene pool from the effect of the climatic belt shift. It has been classified as 'critically endangered' in the IUCN Red List in 2017. [1] In the European Union it has been designated as a 'priority species' under Annex II of the Habitats Directive, which means areas in which it occurs can be declared Special Areas of Conservation, if these areas belong to one of the number of habitats listed in Annex I of the directive. [3]
The Douglas fir is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three varieties: coast Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and Mexican Douglas-fir.
Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus Abies in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to Cedrus (cedar). The genus name is derived from the Latin "to rise" in reference to the height of its species. The common English name originates with the Old Norse, fyri, or the Old Danish, fyr.
Pinus nigra, the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as well as Crimea and in the high mountains of Northwest Africa.
Picea abies, the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.
Abies nordmanniana, the Nordmann fir or Caucasian fir, is a fir indigenous to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia and the Russian Caucasus. It occurs at altitudes of 900–2,200 m on mountains with precipitation of over 1,000 mm.
Abies borisii-regis is a species of fir native to the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula in Bulgaria, northern Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia. It occurs at altitudes of 800–1,800 m, on mountains with an annual rainfall of over 1,000 mm.
Abies alba, the European silver fir or silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and south to Italy, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Albania and northern Greece; it is also commonly grown on Christmas tree plantations in the North East region of North America spanning New England in the US to the Maritime provinces of Canada.
Abies pinsapo, Spanish fir, is a species of tree in the family Pinaceae, native to southern Spain and northern Morocco. Related to other species of Mediterranean firs, it appears at altitudes of 900–1,800 metres (3,000–5,900 ft) in the Sierra de Grazalema in the Province of Cádiz and the Sierra de las Nieves and Sierra Bermeja, both near Ronda in the province of Málaga. In Morocco, it is limited to the Rif Mountains at altitudes of 1,400–2,100 metres (4,600–6,900 ft) on Jebel Tissouka and Jebel Tazaot.
Abies bracteata, the Santa Lucia fir or bristlecone fir, is the rarest fir in North America, and according to some, the world. It is confined to steep-sided slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in the Big Sur region on the central coast of California, United States.
Abies cephalonica or Greek fir is a fir native to the mountains of Greece, primarily in the Peloponnesos and the island of Kefallonia, intergrading with the closely related Bulgarian fir further north in the Pindus mountains of northern Greece. It is a medium-size evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–35 metres (82–115 ft) – rarely 40 m (130 ft) – tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1 m. It occurs at altitudes of 900–1,700 m (3,000–5,600 ft), on mountains with a rainfall of over 1,000 millimetres (39 in).
Fagus orientalis, commonly known as the Oriental beech, is a deciduous tree in the beech family Fagaceae. It is native to Eurasia, in Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
The Fraser fir, sometimes spelled" Frasier fir, is an endangered species of fir native to the Appalachian Mountains of the Southeastern United States. They are endemic to only seven montane regions in the Appalachian Mountains.
Abies koreana, the Korean fir, is a species of fir native to the higher mountains of South Korea, including Jeju Island. It grows at altitudes of 1,000–1,900 metres (3,300–6,200 ft) in temperate rainforest with high rainfall and cool, humid summers, and heavy winter snowfall.
Abies religiosa, the oyamel fir or sacred fir, is a fir native to the mountains of central and southern Mexico and western Guatemala. It grows at high elevations of 2,100–4,100 metres (6,900–13,500 ft) in cloud forests with cool, humid summers and dry winters in most of its habitat regime. In the state of Veracruz, it grows with precipitation all year long. The tree is resistant to regular winter snowfalls.
Abies numidica, the Algerian fir, is a species of fir found only in Algeria, where it is endemic on Djebel Babor, the second-highest mountain in the Algerian Tell Atlas.
Abies vejarii is a species of fir native to northeastern Mexico, in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, where it grows at high altitudes in the Sierra Madre Oriental.
Pleurotus nebrodensis, commonly known as funcia di basilicu "fungus of basilisk" or carduncieddu di macchia "macchia carduncieddu(?)", is a fungus that was declared by the IUCN as critically endangered in 2006. This fungus only grows on limestone in northern Sicily in association with Cachrys ferulacea. The characteristics of the mushroom are its creamy white to yellow colour, its diameter of between 5 and 20 centimeters, its extremely angled gills, and the breaking apart of the cap surface at maturity.
The South Apennine mixed montane forests is an ecoregion in the southern Apennine Mountains of southern Italy and Sicily. It has a Mediterranean climate, and is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.
Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani, synonym Abies bornmuelleriana, the Turkish fir is a rare, coniferous evergreen tree native to northwest Turkey. Another common name is Uludağ fir. It is a subspecies of Abies nordmanniana. It has also been considered to be a natural hybrid between Caucasian fir and Grecian fir.
Malus crescimannoi, also known as the Raimondo apple, is a species of apple in the rose family Rosaceae. Native just to the island of Sicily it was formally described only in 2008, making it one of the most recently described species of tree in Europe. At present unknown is whether the species is a remnant of a preglacial diversity of apples in Europe, or a distinctive race of European wild apple.
| Authority control databases: National |
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