Range of Abies alba (6). |
Abies alba Miller 1768
Common NamesEuropean or common silver fir (1).Taxonomic notesSyn. A. pardei Gaussen (1).DescriptionTree: Tree up to 45-55 m. tall and 200-260 cm dbh, with a long clear bole surmounted by a pyramidal crown that becomes flat-topped with age (1).Bark: Smooth, gray, scaly, with resin blisters (1). Branches: Grooved, pale brown or dull gray with a blackish pubescence (1). Shoots: Leaves: Shade foliage 2-ranked, spreading horizontally; foliage in sun more or less erect. Needle base twisted, apex notched or rounded; 15-30 × 1.5-2 mm; upper surface dark shiny green and grooved, usually lacking stomata; lower surface glaucous to whitish-green, keeled , with stomata in 5-8 ranks. Buds pale brown to reddish-brown, ovoid with an obtuse apex, sometimes resinous, diameter 8-11 mm, slightly pubescent (1). Cones: Cylindrical, attenuate at the ends, 10-16 × 3-5 cm, green when young, turning red-brown (1). Cone scales: Spathulate, finely pubescent with exserted, reflexed bracts extending about 2/3 the length of the scale (1). Pollen cones: Blue/violet/red, 1-3 cm long (1). Seeds: Obovoid, reddish, winged, up to 2.5 cm long (1). RangeFrance; Italy; Switzerland; Germany; Austria; Bulgaria; Ukraine: Karpaty Mts.; Byelorussia; at 300-1950 m. (1, 2).Big TreeHeight 59 m, dbh >320 cm, Chernaya Tisa River, Karpatsky National Reserve (Ukraine?) (2). A tree 45 m tall, dbh 296 m, grows at Strone House, Strathclyde, Great Britain. Another, 50 m tall and 201 cm dbh, is at Raehills, Dumfries & Galloway, Great Britain (4).OldestA tree-ring chronology covering 411 years, presumably based on living tree material, was collected in 1952 in Bayerischer Wald, Germany (48° 45'N, 13° 0' E) by B. Becker (5).DendrochronologyEthnobotanyFoliar loppings of European silver fir in Czechoslovakia have yielded 1,380 tonnes/year of essential oils (7).ObservationsRemarksCitations(1) Silba 1986.(2) Vladimir Dinets, e-mail communication, 2-Jan-1998. (3) Vidakovic 1991.
(4) Mitchell et al. 1990.
(6) Atlas Florae Europaeae 1998. (7) J. Cermak and M. Penka. 1979. An attempt to estimate potential production of volatile terpenes from the logging by-products of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.). Planta Medica 36: 3, 252. |
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