Abies fabri (Mast.) Craib

Abies fabri copes better than most Sino-Himalayan Firs at Bedgebury National Pinetum, Kent, UK. This group are traceable to SICH 604. Photographed 21 July 2020. Image Tom Christian.

NOTE

Bean discusses this taxon as A. delavayi var. fabri (Mast.) D.R. Hunt. It has long been accepted as a species and will be treated as such when the revised TSO account for Abies is published in 2021. The text that follows is Bean’s. TC 23/07/20.

An evergreen tree up to 130 ft high in a wild state, with a trunk 8 to 16 ft in girth; young shoots minutely downy at first, yellowish to dark brown. Terminal winter buds {2/5} in. long, slightly resinous. Leaves dark green above, with two whitish bands of stomata in nine to eleven rows beneath; {1/2} to 1 in. long, {1/12} in. wide in adult trees; 1{3/4} in. long in juvenile ones; rounded and occasionally very slightly notched at the end; margins distinctly recurved; the outer leaves are horizontal, the inner ones more or less erect. Male inflorescence 1{1/4} in. long by {1/4} in. wide. Cone cylindrical, rounded at the top, about 3 in. long, 1{1/4} to 1{3/4} in. wide, dark blue or bluish black, the awl-shaped tips of the bracts protruding about {1/4} in. and much decurved. Bot. Mag., t. 9201.Native of China in the western part of the province of Szechwan; discovered by the missionary Faber and introduced by Wilson from the Omei Shan and Wa Shan in 1903 and again in 1910. Wilson’s firs were at first considered to be typical A. delavayi and distributed under that name. This view was first disputed by Craib (Notes Edin. Bot. Gard., Vol. 11, 1918, pp. 278-9). From an examination of the original material and specimens collected by Forrest in the type locality and other parts of Yunnan he came to the conclusion that the trees found by Wilson were specifically distinct from A. delavayi. His judgement was based on certain differences in the leaves, notably the stronger recurving of the margins of the Yunnan specimens of A. delavayi. He therefore placed Wilson’s fir in A. fabri, a species which he constructed partly from Wilson’s material and partly from a specimen collected earlier in the same part of Szechwan and originally described as Keteleeria fabri by Masters. Other authorities considered that these characters are inconstant and unreliable, and treated A. fabri as a synonym of A. delavayi. The view adopted in the present revision is that, while A. fabri can scarcely be upheld as a species, it should, in the present state of our knowledge, be maintained as a distinct entity, with the rank of variety. A note on this matter has been published (D. R. Hunt, Journ. R.H.S., Vol. 92, 1967, p. 263).The following specimens have been recorded: Stourhead, Wilts., 68 × 3 ft (1961); East Bergholt Place, Suffolk, 58 × 3{1/2} ft (1966); Abbotswood, Glos., pl. 1916, 47 × 2{3/4} and 43 × 3{3/4} ft (1966); Dawyck, Peebl., pl. 1918, 51 × 3{1/2} ft (1961); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, from W. 4078, 44 × 4{3/4} ft (1968).

Abies fabri foliage, from a tree of SICH 604 at Bedgebury, UK. The needles of A. fabri are held in much 'flatter' sprays, relative to most other Sino-Himalayan Firs. July 2020. Image Tom Christian.

Foliage of another tree of Abies fabri again raised from SICH 604. This time the tree is growing in the much cooler environment of Dawyck Botanic Garden, Scotland. 02 July 2020. Image Tom Christian.

Abies fabri shoot underside, on a tree of SICH 604 growing at Dawyck. The orange-brown colour of the glabrous mature shoot aids identification. 02 July 2020. Image Tom Christian.

Abies fabri seed cone, on a tree at the Howick Arboretum, UK, grown on from SICH 604. Photographed 7th July 2020. Image Tom Christian.

Developing Abies fabri seed cones on a graft of Wilson 4078 at Dawyck Botanic Garden, Scotland, photographed in April 2011. At this early stage in their development the cones are susceptible to damage from late frosts, and bear little resemblance to their fully ripe state. Image Tom Christian.

Abies fabri seed cone on a grafted tree of Wilson 4078 at Dawyck Botanic Garden, Scotland, showing the bracts only partially exserted at maturity. The acute needle apices are typical of coning shoots of many species. Photographed in April 2011, this ripe cone is a 'leftover' from the previous year, but it is unusual for Abies to retain their cones in this way. Image Tom Christian.

Abies fabri seed cone, on the grafted tree of Wilson 4078 at Dawyck Botanic Garden, Scotland, 21st June 2009. Image Tom Christian.