Abies pinsapo (abeto español, Spanish fir) description

(var. pinsapo)

(African varieties)

Abies pinsapo

Boissier 1838

Common names

Pinsapo, abeto español [Spanish], Spanish silver spruce, Spanish fir (van Gelderen et al. 1986, Vidakovic 1991).

Taxonomic notes

One of two species (with A. numidica) in Abies section Piceaster. There are three varieties, the type in Spain and the others, A. pinsapo var. marocana and A. pinsapo var. tazaotana, both endemic to Africa. Both varieties are recognized by some authors at specific rank. A 2007 study of chloroplast DNA revealed that the marocana populations are extremely similar, and that the tazaotana population is quite similar to the marocana populations, generally supporting the morphological determination that these taxa are difficult to distinguish. The African populations were, however, highly distinct from the Spanish populations of var. pinsapo, with 85% of variance in the cpDNA data attributable to differences in African vs. European populations (Terrab et al. 2007).

Synonymy (Farjon 1998):

for Abies pinsapo Boiss. var. pinsapo:

Picea pinsapo (Boiss.) Loudon 1842
Abies hispanica Chambray 1845
Pinus pinsapo (Boiss.) Antoine 1847
Pinus sapo d'Ounous 1861
Abies pinsapo Boiss. var. hispanica (Chambray) H. Christ 1865
Abies pinsapo Boiss. subsp. eupinsapo Mairein, Jahandiez et Maire 1930, nom inval.
Abies pinsapo Boiss. subsp. hispanica (Chambray) Maire 1952

for Abies pinsapo Boiss. var. marocana (Trab.) Ceballos et Bolaño 1928:

Abies marocana Trab. 1906

for Abies pinsapo Boiss. var. tazaotana (S. Cozar ex Villar) Pourtet 1954:

Abies tazaotana S. Cozar ex Villar 1947
Abies pinsapo Boiss. subsp. tazaotana (S. Cozar ex Villar) R. Govaerts 1995

Description

Trees up to 25–30 m high and up to 150 cm DBH. Usually a single, round, straight trunk with a deep crown that is narrowly conical in young trees but irregular in older trees, comprised of long branches that ascend in the upper crown and curve downward in the lower; trees in exposed sites may have very irregular form. Bark smooth, dark gray, with age becoming longitudinally fissured, rough and scaly. Branchlets stout, very stiff (more than in perhaps any other species of Abies) red-brown or green-brown turning grey, glabrous, faintly ridged; leaf scars large, purple-gray. Buds globose, 5 × 4 mm, very resinous; scales red-brown, triangular, keeled, free at the apex. Leaves spirally arranged, spreading radially and perpendicular to the branchlet, shade foliage somewhat pectinate but much less so than in most species of Abies; 6-20 × 2-3 mm, not twisted at base, round or slightly flattened, rigid, apex obtuse or acute, stomatal bands on all surfaces, color from dark green to highly glaucous (not counting a golden cultivar); two small medial resin canals; persisting for up to 13 years. Pollen cones lateral, crowded on branchlets, 5-7 mm long, yellow with red or violet microsporophylls. Seed cones on short peduncles, lateral, erect, cylindrical, with obtuse apex, 9-16 × 3-5 cm, green-purple ripening to brown; rachis persistent, narrowly conical, purple-brown. Seed scales triangular, 2.5-2.8 × 2.2-2.5 cm, smooth, slightly striated, upper margin entire, undulate, incurved. Bract scales 1-1.3 cm long, entirely included, oblong, the apex with a tiny cusp. Seed obovate, 6–10 mm long, light brown; the wing is twice this size, light brown; 1,000 seeds weigh ca. 50 g. Cotyledons 5–8. Phenology: Flowers in April and May; cones mature in September and October (Farjon 1990, Vidakovic 1991). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Var. marocana differs from the type as follows (Farjon 1990):

Buds less resinous and slightly larger buds
Leaves more pectinately arranged, flatter, more acute, with a faint groove and fewer stomata above; resin canals marginal
Cones larger (10-18 × 3.5-5 cm).

Var. tazaotana differs from the tipe only in having resinless buds (Farjon 1990).

Distribution and Ecology

The three varieties have disjunct ranges. Var. pinsapo occurs in Spain: the provinces of Malaga and Granada, in the Sierrania de Ronda (Sierra de las Nieves, S. de Bermeja and S. de Yunquera). It grows at 1,000–2,000 m (Farjon 1990, Vidakovic 1991).

Distribution of Abies in the Mediterranean region. Data from Conifers of the World BRAHMS database, downloaded 2017.11.05. Taxa are color coded; see pull-out menu at left of map for details. Click on each occurrence for further information.

Var. marocana occurs in Morocco: the western Rif Mountains (Mts. Tissouka, Mago, Kraa, and Bab Rouida), at elevations of 1,400-2,100 m (Farjon 1990).

Var tazaotana occurs only on Mt. Tazaot in the Rif Mountains, SW of Tetuan, Morocco; also at elevations of 1,400-2,100 m (Farjon 1990).

All varieties occupy similar habitat: N-facing slopes on rocky soils derived from dolomitic limestone or serpentine, with deep drainage. The climate is montane, with a mediterranean influence: dry, warm summers alternate with cool, moist winters, with annual precipitation around 1,000 mm. The trees grow in pure, scattered stands (very rare in Spain) or mixed with Cedrus atlantica (Morocco). Other associates include broad-leaved trees such as Quercus ilex, Q. lusitanica, and Q. canariensis (Morocco), and sclerophyllous shrubs such as Ulex baliticus, Cistus spp., Pistacia lentiscus, Daphne laureola and Berberis hispanica (Farjon 1990). Hardy to Zone 6 (cold hardiness limit between -23.2°C and -17.8°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001). In a physiological comparison to A. alba, Peguero-Pina et al. (2011) show that A. pinsapo is relatively much more drought tolerant and also much more vulnerable to tracheid cavitation in response to repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Both of these traits result from tracheids that have an unusually large diameter; this species' ability to survive in arid climates depends upon continuing to transpire in very hot, dry conditions. This suggests that A. pinsapo is at risk of drought-driven mortality, one of the more common consequences of global anthropogenic climate change.

The species has been reported as naturalized at locations in Spain and France. The largest of these is a 1913 plantation near Arcajo, Spain that has since naturalized (Peguero-Pina et al. 2011). Prioton (1964) produced a review of afforestation using A. pinsapo in France, and I have also received a report of a few naturalized trees near Le Pègue (near Nyons, France) on the dry and very steep limestone slopes around the track leading to Chapelle St Marcel (Jourdan 2020).

Remarkable Specimens

The oldest known specimen is documented in a tree-ring chronology covering the period 1689-1998 (crossdated after 1734), collected in the Sierra de las Nieves, Spain by M. Génova (doi.org/10.25921/gz33-r403). The oldest tree in the study provided a 310-year record.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.22.

Observations

An engaging account of traveling to see the African populations is provided by Nicholson (1986).

Remarks

The epithet pinsapo is also the Andalusian common name for this fir.

"Seed bearing begins in the 25th to 35th year. Trees in natural stands in Spain bear a full seed crop every 3 to 5 years. Solitary plants may yield as much as 100 kg of cones per tree. 1 kg of cones contains 8-9 cones out of wich [sic] 250 g of seeds is extracted, i.e. cca 500 seeds. On the average, about 20,000 seeds are contained in 1 kg. Germination rate is, according to data from Spain (Catalan and Pardos, 1977) 50-60 percent, while in trees which are grown in other countries it is somewhat less. This fir may be successfully propagated by grafting" (Vidakovic 1991).

Farjon (1990) quite plausibly asserts that all populations of this taxon are isolated relicts of a much wider distribution in the past. It would be interesting to know how this species fared during the Pleistocene glacial maxima, when it presumably would have had a much lower elevational range.

Citations

Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.

Jourdan, Stéphane. 2020. Les sapins espagnols « sauvages » du Pègue. La Lettre d'ALTONVM 36:16-19.

Nicholson, R. 1986. Collecting rare conifers in North Africa. Arnoldia 46(1):20-29. Available: arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/678.pdf, accessed 2010.02.12.

Peguero-Pina, José Javier; Domingo Sancho-Knapik; Hervé Cochard; Gonzalo Barredo; Dido Villarroya; and Eustaquio Gil-Pelegrín. 2011. Hydraulic traits are associated with the distribution range of two closely related Mediterranean firs, Abies alba Mill. and Abies pinsapo Boiss. Tree Physiology 31(10):1067–1075, https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpr092.

Prioton, Jean. 1964. Plaidoyer pour le sapin d'Espagne. Revue Forestière Française 1964(2):99-115.

Terrab, A., S. Talavera, M. Arista, O. Paun, T. F. Stuessy, and K. Tremetsberger. 2007. Genetic diversity at chloroplast microsatellites (cpSSRs) and geographic structure in endangered West Mediterranean firs (Abies spp., Pinaceae). Taxon 56(2):409-416.