Firs are evergreen trees belonging to the genus Abies () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65
They are tall trees that can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by the way in which their needle-like leaves are attached singly to the branches with a circular base, and by their Conifer cone, which, like those of Cedrus, stand upright on the branches like candles and disintegrate at maturity.
The wood of firs is used for pulp to make paper, for plywood, and for indoor construction. Some species serve as , while others are used as decorative trees with their brightly coloured cones. In art, Lucas Cranach the Elder painted Madonna under the fir tree for Wrocław Cathedral in 1510.
Etymology
The English name "fir" derives from the Old Norse
fyri or the Old Danish
fyr.
The generic name
Abies is the Latin for "fir".
Description
Fir trees are tall, often 40–60 metres and sometimes approaching 100 metres high, usually with a single straight trunk. The crown starts conical, but becomes more varied in shape with age. The primary branches are arranged in whorls around the trunk.
Leaves
Firs have needle-like
leaves, arranged spirally but often appearing to be in two or more rows on opposite sides of the twigs. The base of each leaf is round and attached to a small pit in the twig. Each leaf is normally twisted at its base so that the side with
faces downwards.
In the upper crown on cone-bearing branches, the leaves are shorter, curved, and sometimes sharp.
Abies alba PID1015-3.jpg| Abies alba – the underside of leaves have two whitish strips formed by wax-covered bands, while their bases are shaped like suction cups.
Abies grandis 5359.JPG| Abies grandis foliage – upper side of the leaves, showing the leaves lying flat either side of the shoot
Punta de rama pinsapo (Abies pinsapo) (8620598021).jpg|Foliage of Abies pinsapo showing the radial leaf arrangement in this species
File:Abies mariesii2.JPG|Most firs are in between flat and radial, often with longer leaves at the sides, and shorter leaves above the shoot; here, Abies mariesii in Japan
File:Abies nordmanniana leaf cross-section.jpg|Cross-section of needle leaf of Abies nordmanniana
Cones
Firs differ from other conifers such as
in having erect, cylindrical female seed
Conifer cone long that disintegrate at maturity to release the winged
. Seed cones take a year to become mature; they start out green or other bright colour, darkening as they develop to dark brown or black. The leaflike seed
are visible when young, and in some species remain so. The seeds sit in thin cups; each seed has a triangle-shaped wing. The male cones are pendulous (dangling) and resemble
; both pollen and seeds are wind-dispersed.
Abies cone & bits.jpg|Intact and disintegrated Bulgarian fir cones
Abies holophylla Manchurian Fir cones.jpg|Immature cones of some species are green; here Abies holophylla Abies holophylla
Manchurian Fir Abies holophylla disintegrating cones.jpg|Disintegrating cones of Manchurian fir
Abies pindrow India3.jpg|Abies pindrow Abies pindrow with dark purple cones
Caucasian Fir, young cultivated tree with cones, Northumberland.jpg|Caucasian Fir Abies nordmanniana young cones with reddish scales and yellow-green bracts
Noble Fir, young naturalised tree with cones, Northumberland.jpg|Abies procera Abies procera, with five heavy (20 cm, approx 0.5 kg each) seed cones
File:Abies pollen cones Marki 4.JPG|Pollen cones
Evolution
Fossil history
The oldest pollen assignable to the genus dates to the
Late Cretaceous in
Siberia, with records of leaves and reproductive organs across the Northern Hemisphere from the
Eocene onwards.
External phylogeny
Based on
transcriptome analysis,
Keteleeria is sister to
Abies, with the Pseudolariceae the next nearest relatives.
Internal phylogeny
Phylogeny of
Abies based on phylogenomic analysis in 2021:
Taxonomy
Taxonomic history
In 1754,
Philip Miller set up the genus
Abies; he also defined the type species
Abies alba.
In 1878,
George Engelmann classified only a part of the genus;
did the same in 1890,
as did the German botanist Wilhelm Patschke in 1913.
The classifications by Paul Robert Hickel in 1906 to 1908,
[Hickel, Robert (1906-08). Notes pour servir ä la determination pratique des Abietinees. Bull. Soc. Dendrol. France 2: 45 58, f. I 7(15 xi 1906); 3; 5 18, f. 8 30 (15 ii 1907); 4: 41 48, f. 31 46(15v 1907); 5: 82 86(15 viii 1907); 7:5-10, f. a 1 (15 ii 1908); 9; 179-185 (15 viii 1908); 10: 201 208 (15 xi 1908).] and by P. Landry in 1984,
made use only of a subset of the available morphological characteristics.
In 1990 and 2001, the Dutch botanist
Aljos Farjon attempted a more complete classification; he accepted 48 species within the genus; in 2017 he reduced this to 46. Adopting a different approach, in 2011 Z. Debreczy and I. Rácz treated the genus as containing 67 species.
Species
, Plants of the World Online accepted 49 species.
The sections are based on Stull et al. 2021.
Section Abies is found in central, south, and eastern Europe and Asia Minor.
-
Abies alba – silver fir or European silver fir
-
Abies nebrodensis – Sicilian fir
-
Abies borisii-regis – Bulgarian fir
-
Abies cephalonica – Greek fir
-
Abies nordmanniana – Caucasian fir or Nordmann fir
-
Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi-trojani – Kazdağı fir, Turkish fir
-
Abies pinsapo – Spanish fir
-
Abies pinsapo var. marocana – Moroccan fir
-
Abies numidica – Algerian fir
-
Abies cilicica – Syrian fir
Section Balsamea is found in northern Asia and North America, and high mountains further south.
-
Abies fraseri – Fraser's fir
-
Abies balsamea – balsam fir
-
Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis – bracted balsam fir
-
Abies lasiocarpa – subalpine fir
-
Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica – corkbark fir
-
Abies lasiocarpa var. bifolia – Rocky Mountains subalpine fir
-
Abies sibirica – Siberian fir
-
Abies sibirica var. semenovii
-
Abies sachalinensis – Sakhalin fir
-
Abies koreana – Korean fir
-
Abies nephrolepis – Khinghan fir
-
Abies veitchii – Veitch's fir
-
Abies veitchii var. sikokiana – Shikoku fir
Section Grandis is found in western North America to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, in lowlands in the north, moderate altitudes in south.
-
Abies grandis – grand fir or giant fir
-
Abies grandis var. grandis – Coast grand fir
-
Abies grandis var. idahoensis – interior grand fir
-
Abies concolor – white fir
-
Abies concolor subsp. concolor – Rocky Mountain white fir or Colorado white fir
-
Abies concolor subsp. lowiana – Low's white fir or Sierra Nevada white fir
-
Abies durangensis – Durango fir
-
Abies durangensis var. coahuilensis – Coahuila fir
-
Abies flinckii – Jalisco fir
-
Abies guatemalensis – Guatemalan fir
-
Abies guatemalensis var. guatemalensis
-
Abies guatemalensis var. jaliscana
-
Abies vejarii
Section Momi is found in east and central Asia and the Himalaya, generally at low to moderate altitudes.
Section Amabilis is found in the Pacific Coast mountains in North America and Japan, in high rainfall areas.
Section Pseudopicea is found in the Himalaya at high altitudes.
-
Abies delavayi – Delavay's fir
-
Abies delavayi var. nukiangensis
-
Abies delavayi var. motuoensis
-
Abies delavayi subsp. fansipanensis
-
Abies fabri – Faber's fir
-
Abies fabri subsp. minensis
-
Abies forrestii – Forrest's fir
-
Abies densa – Bhutan fir
-
Abies spectabilis – East Himalayan fir
-
Abies fargesii – Farges' fir
-
Abies fanjingshanensis – Fanjingshan fir
-
Abies yuanbaoshanensis – Yuanbaoshan fir
-
Abies squamata – flaky fir
Section Oiamel is found in central Mexico at high altitudes.
Section Nobilis (western United States, high altitudes)
Section Bracteata (California coast)
Section Incertae sedis
Ecology
Distribution and habitat
Firs are distributed around the Northern Hemisphere. The genus is native across much of North America, Eurasia, Turkey, Syria, Morocco, and Algeria. It is introduced in Scandinavia and the British Isles.
grows as far north as 67°N in Siberia, while
A. guatemalensis grows as far south as 15°N in Central America. Most firs favour cold climates, whether at altitude in mountain ranges or at high latitude. Many species have relict distributions, occupying small areas of what were once much larger distributions. Only a few species are widespread.
Abies religiosa (sacred fir) trees give roosting shelter to overwintering Danaus plexippus.
File:Independence Pass, CO 5.jpg|Fir forest at high altitude,
Independence Pass, Colorado
File:Abies lasiocarpa 5922 (cropped).JPG|The narrow conical shape and downward-drooping limbs of northern conifers,
like Abies lasiocarpa, help them shed snow.
Pests and diseases
Firs are hosts to a variety of invertebrate pests and fungal diseases. Pest groups include
Adelgidae bugs,
,
,
,
Pissodes,
of some moths,
,
sawflies,
, and
. Diseases of firs include annosus (
Heterobasidion)
root rot,
, and
needle cast.
File:1955. Pseudohylesinus grandis egg galleries and larvae on inner bark of silver fir. Baker River District, Mt. Baker National Forest. Washington. (34466337570).jpg|Galleries and larvae of Pseudohylesinus grandis beetles on Abies alba
File:Paradiplosis tumifex galls01.jpg| of the gall midge Paradiplosis tumifex in needle leaves of Abies balsamea
File:Pucciniastrum epilobii (42).jpg| Pucciniastrum epilobii basidiomycete fungus infecting needle leaves of Abies alba
File:Melampsorella caryophyllacearum Italy2.jpg|Witch's broom caused by the basidiomycete fungus Melampsorella caryophyllacearum
Uses
Unlike the
Douglas fir (
Pseudotsuga), firs produce
softwood, often used as pulp or for the manufacture of
plywood and rough timber. It is commonly used in Canadian Lumber Standard graded wood, used for internal
and similar applications.
is used in
Ayurveda as an
antitussive (cough suppressant) drug.
Firs produce a variety of
that could have practical uses. Terpenoid composition of the bark varies by genetics, geography, age and size of the tree.
Caucasian fir, Abies procera, Abies fraseri and Abies balsamea are popular , generally considered to be the best for this purpose, with aromatic foliage that does not shed many needles on drying out. Many form decorative garden trees, notably Abies koreana and Fraser's fir, which produce brightly coloured cones even when very young, still only tall. Many fir species are grown in botanic gardens and other specialist tree collections in Europe and North America.
In art
Lucas Cranach the Elder painted
Madonna under the fir tree for Wrocław Cathedral in 1510.
The painting was taken to Germany after the Second World War for restoration, but a copy was made and substituted for the original. The forgery was discovered, partly because the copy was on a fir board where the original was on
Tilia wood. The original was returned to Poland in 2012, the most valuable painting to be restituted to the country.
File:Cranach Madonna under the fir tree.jpg| Madonna under the fir tree - Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1510
File:Fir Trees in Les Trembleaux, near Marlotte (Sapins aux Trembleaux à Marlotte) MET DT3121.jpg| Fir Trees in Les Trembleaux, near Marlotte - Henri Harpignies, 1854
File:William Tayler - Simla. Fir Trees at Anandale -- Pinus Excelsa - LOC 2021670474.png| Simla. Fir Trees at Anandale -- Pinus Excelsa - William Tayler, c. 1858
File:Bruno Liljefors - Fir trees heavy with snow 1924.jpg| Fir trees heavy with snow - Bruno Liljefors, 1924
File:John Leslie Thomson (1851-1929) - Landscape with Fir Trees - FA89-78 - Perth Art Gallery.jpg| Landscape with Fir Trees -
John Leslie Thomson (before 1929)
File:David Widhopff - Landscape with Fir Trees.jpg| Landscape with Fir Trees -
David Ossipovitch Widhopff (before 1934)
File:Fir Trees in front of the Mountains. Study from North Norway (Anna Boberg) - Nationalmuseum - 21365.tif| Fir Trees in front of the Mountains. Study from North Norway - Anna Boberg (before 1935)
File:Small picture of fir tree - Paul Klee.jpg| Small picture of fir tree -
Paul Klee (before 1940)
See also
-
List of fir species of Denmark
Further reading
-
Philips, Roger. Trees of North America and Europe, Random House, New York , 1979.
External links
