Abies flinckii Rushforth

Tree 15–25 m tall, to 1 m dbh. Crown conical, columnar and round-topped in older trees. Bark of young trees smooth for many years, lenticillate, silvery grey, fissuring and cracking into small scales at the base of old trees. First order branches spreading horizontally or downcurved, the tips level or slightly upswept. Branchlets slender, green at first, ripening to olive-brown or reddish-brown, glossy, puberulent when young, later glabrous and grey. Vegetative buds globose or conical, 2–4 mm, with a dense covering of purplish-grey resin. Leaves strongly parted either side of shoots by a wide ‘V’, somewhat depressed near the end of vigorous leading shoots, those of the upper rank strongly forward, green with a prominent central groove above, (2–)3.5–9(–12) cm × 1.5–2 mm (longest on shaded and lax shoots and seedlings), base straight or weakly twisted, apex obtuse or emarginate, sometimes weakly bifid, stomata absent from the upper surface or in a broken band along the central groove, in two dull-white bands beneath. Pollen cones scattered, conspicuously long, 3–4 × 0.7 cm, resinous. Seed cones short-pedunculate, oblong-conical, 12–16 × 4–4.5 cm, apex obtuse, maturing from greenish-yellow to yellowish-brown, ripening November; seed scales flabellate, 2.5–2.7 × 3–4 cm at midcone; bracts prominently exserted and reflexed at maturity, apex triangular. (Rushforth 1989; Debreczy & Rácz 2011).

Distribution  Mexico Jalisco, Michoacán, and Sinaloa states

Habitat Warm-temperate or sub-tropical montane forests at 1300–3000 m asl, with many pine species including Pinus devoniana, P. maximinoi, P. pseudostrobus, and, in places, P. lumholtzii. Common broadleaf associates include Tilia americana ("var. mexicana") and several Quercus species, and more locally Arbutus xalapensis. At its upper altitudinal limit on the Nevado de Colima it associates with the narrow endemic Abies colimensis.

Conservation status Not evaluated (NE)