Abies cilicica

(Antoine et Kotschy) Carrière 1855

Common names

Toros göknarı [Turkish]; Cilician Fir, Syrian fir [English]; abete di Cilicia [Italian], sapin de Cilicie [French].

Taxonomic notes

Two subspecies, the type and Abies cilicica subsp. isaurica Coode et Cullen.

Description

"A narrowly pyramidal tree 25-35 m tall, to 210 cm in girth, with ascending branches. Bark ash-grey, smooth, becoming deeply fissured into scaly plates. Branchlets smooth, reddish yellow-grey to olive-brown, with scattered pubescence. Buds ovoid, non-resinous, chestnut-brown, scales keeled and free at the tips, 1-1.8 mm in diameter. Needles spreading upwards and forwards, or 2-ranked with a V-like parting, linear, dark green above, whitish green below, with 2-3 short lines of stomata above, in 6-7 lines below in narrow bands; 20-40 mm long by 1.5-3 mm wide, apex entire or slightly bifid. Female cone cylindrical, reddish brown, 15-30 cm long by 4-6 cm wide, apex bluntly pointed; scales fan-shaped, bracts hidden, 1/4-1/2 height of the scale, mucronate. Seeds reddish-brown, wing obovoid, to 2 cm long" (Silba 1986). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

E Turkey: Antitaurus Mtns.; N Syria; Lebanon; at 1000-2100 m elevation (Silba 1986). Subspecies isaurica endemic to Turkey: the Isaurian Taurus (Conifer Specialist Group 1998). Hardy to Zone 5 (cold hardiness limit between -28.8°C and -23.3°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001, subspecies not identified).

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.

Remarkable Specimens

A tree-ring chronology covering the period 1722-2001 (279 years; crossdated after 1747) was collected in Lebanon by R. Touchan and M. K. Hughes (doi.org/10.25921/jxnn-ws85). Very few collections of this species are recorded and substantially older trees may occur.

Ethnobotany

No data as of 2023.02.22.

Observations

No data as of 2023.02.22.

Remarks

Citations

Conifer Specialist Group. 1998. Abies cilicica ssp. isaurica. In: 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org, accessed 2009.04.17.

See also

Elwes and Henry 1906-1913 at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. This series of volumes, privately printed, provides some of the most engaging descriptions of conifers ever published. Although they only treat species cultivated in the U.K. and Ireland, and the taxonomy is a bit dated, still these accounts are thorough, treating such topics as species description, range, varieties, exceptionally old or tall specimens, remarkable trees, and cultivation. Despite being over a century old, they are generally accurate, and are illustrated with some remarkable photographs and lithographs.

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.
- Provides a detailed account, with illustrations.