Species of conifer
Abies religiosa
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Sacred fir forest at
El Chico National Park in Hidalgo, Mexico
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Scientific classification
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Kingdom:
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Plantae
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Clade:
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Tracheophytes
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Clade:
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Gymnospermae
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Division:
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Pinophyta
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Class:
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Pinopsida
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Order:
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Pinales
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Family:
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Pinaceae
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Genus:
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Abies
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Species:
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A. religiosa
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Binomial name
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Abies religiosa
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Synonyms
[3]
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- Abies colimensis Rushforth & Narave F., H.
- Abies glauca Roezl ex Gordon
- Abies glaucescens Roezl
- Abies hirtella (Kunth) Lindl.
- Abies religiosa subsp. colimensis (Rushforth & Narave) Silba
- Abies religiosa var. colimensis (Rushforth & Narave) Silba
- Abies religiosa subsp. glaucescens (Roezl) Silba
- Abies religiosa var. glaucescens Carrière
- Abies religiosa var. hirtella (Kunth) Carrière
- Abies religiosa var. lindleyana Carrière
- Abies religiosa subsp. perotensis (Silba) Silba
- Abies religiosa var. perotensis Silba
- Abies tlapalcatuda Roezl
- Picea glaucescens (Roezl) Gordon
- Picea hirtella (Kunth) Loudon
- Picea religiosa (Kunth) Loudon
- Pinus hirtella Kunth
- Pinus religiosa Kunth
- Pinus religiosa var. minor Parl.
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Abies religiosa, the oyamel fir or sacred fir,
[4] (known as oyamel in
Spanish) is a
fir native to the
mountains of central and southern
Mexico (
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt,
Sierra Madre del Sur) 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.
Names
The Spanish name
oyamel comes from the Nahuatl word oyametl (oya, "to
thresh"; metl, "
agave"; literally "threshing agave"). It is also called árbol de Navidad (
Christmas tree) in Mexico. The English name derives from the
binomial Abies
religiosa, literally "religious fir". This comes from the use of its cut foliage in religious festivals (notably at Christmas) and in churches in Mexico.
[5]
Description
Abies religiosa is a medium-sized to large
evergreen
coniferous
tree growing to 25–50 m (82–164 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of up to 2 metres (6.6 ft). The
leaves are needle-like, flattened, 1.5–3.5 cm (0.59–1.38 in) long and 1.5 mm (0.059 in) wide by 0.5 mm (0.020 in) thick, dark green above, and with two blue-white bands of
stomata below; the leaf apex is acute. The leaf arrangement is spiral on the shoot, but with each leaf variably twisted at the base so they lie flat to either side of and above the shoot, with none below the shoot. The shoots are reddish-brown, hairless or with scattered
pubescence.
The
cones are 8–16 cm (3.1–6.3 in) long and 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) broad, dark blue-purple before maturity; the scale bracts are purple or greenish, of moderate length, with the tips exposed in the closed cone. The winged
seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 7–9 months after
pollination. Trees from the western end of the range on
Nevado de Colima,
Jalisco have cones with larger, reflexed bract scales (similar to
noble fir cones); these are sometimes treated as a separate species, Abies colimensis.
Significance
The sacred fir is the preferred tree for the
monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) to reside in colonies during its hibernation in the forests of the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Although monarch butterflies are known in other parts of the southern
Mexican highlands as some specimens do not
migrate, the bulk of them gather in a few protected fir forests in the
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve near the towns of
Angangueo (
Michoacán) and Avándaro (
State of Mexico), from December to March.
The wood of the sacred fir is rather soft and thus not very suited for
woodworking. Nonetheless, its distribution is decreasing because of
logging for
fuel and other
human-related disturbances.
[6]
A 2012 paper by Cuauhtemoc Saenz-Romero among others, published in Forest Ecology and Management found that "the area suitable for the oyamel is likely to diminish by 96 percent by 2090, and disappear completely within the [Monarch Butterfly Biosphere] reserve."
[7]
[8]
Gallery
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Detail of leaves and male cones
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Chincua sanctuary, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
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El Rosario sanctuary, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
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Firs and
zacatonal plant community on the trail of
La Malinche,
Tlaxcala
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Piedra Herrada butterfly sanctuary, Mexico
References
- Liu, T. S. (11 November 1971). A Monograph of the genus Abies. National Taiwan University.
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Abies religiosa | |
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Pinus religiosa | |
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