Abies hickelii
Hickel's fir; oyamel, pinabete [Mexican Spanish] (Farjon 2010).
There are two varieties:
This is a member of Abies section Grandis. See Abies religiosa for general notes on the Mexican and Mesoamerican firs, including the uncertain placement of A. hickelii. Synonym: A. religiosa (Kunth) Schlechtendahl et Chamisso subsp. hickelii (Flous & Gaussen) K. Strandby, K.I. Christensen, & M. Sørensen 2009.
Trees to 30 m tall and 130 cm dbh, usually with a single, straight, round trunk, often clear for a good part of the tree's height; crown narrowly conical, less regular in old trees. Bark of at first smooth, gray, thickening with age and breaking up into quadrangular plates. Branches spreading horizontally, then ascending. Branchlets slender, purple- or red-brown, grooved, glabrous or slightly pubescent, with small, ovate or round leaf scars. Foliar buds ovoid, 5 x 4 mm, resinous; bud scales triangular, brown, persisting several years. Leaves on sun foliage angled forward; on shade foliage spirally arranged but appearing 2-ranked, diverging at nearly right angles to shoot, of about equal length; 18-35 × 1-1.8 mm, twisted or curved at base, shiny light green above, glaucous below; apex emarginate (sometimes obtuse). Stomata in two bands separated by a midrib below, none or a few near apex above. Pollen cones lateral, short, yellow with red microsporophylls. Seed cones lateral, erect, short pedunculate, oblong-cylindrical, with obtuse apex, 6-8 × 2.5-3.5 cm, purple ripening dark brown; rachis persistent, dark brown. Seed scales cuneate, 14 × 19 mm (at mid-cone); smooth, variably hairy; outer margin rounded, entire. Bracts 2 cm long, exserted. Seeds 6-7 mm long, light brown, with a light brown 10 x 8 mm wing (Farjon 2010).
The varieties are distinguished by the size of the seed cones; 6-8 × 2.5-3.5 cm in var. hickelii, and 9-12 × 5 cm in var. macrocarpa (Farjon 2010).
S Mexico: Guererro, Oaxaca, and Chiapas at 2500-3000 m elevation. Climate cool, oceanic, winter-wet. Soils volcanic. Occasionally in pure stands (at the highest elevations), but usually in mixed stands; associates include Pinus montezumae, P. pseudostrobus, P. ayacahuite, Hesperocyparis lusitanica and Quercus spp., above a shrub layer that may include Vaccinium spp., Andromeda spp., Ribes spp., and Fuchsia spp. (Farjon 2010). Hardy to Zone 8 (cold hardiness limit between -12.1°C and -6.7°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).
Habitat and distribution are the same for both varieties, except that var. macrocarpa has not been described from Chiapas (Farjon 2010).
This species is listed as endangered in Mexico under NOM-ECOL-059-94. The IUCN lists both the species and both subspecies, separately, as "endangered."
No data as of 2025.01.21.
In habitat, this rare species is seldom and then incidentally harvested for timber. It is rare in cultivation, largely limited to botanical gardens in areas with a warm-temperate climate. Its use in dendrochronology includes one study performed in Oaxaca (Naylor 1971) that found generally unsatisfactory results: all sampled trees were young, complacent, and could not be crossdated. This finding was attributed to an insufficiently seasonal climate.
No data as of 2025.01.21.
The epithet honors French dendrologist Paul Robert Hickel (1865-1935).
Aguirre-Planter, Erika, Glenn R. Furnier, and Luis E. Eguiarte. 2000. Low levels of genetic variation within and high levels of genetic differentiation among populations of species of Abies from southern Mexico and Guatemala. American Journal of Botany 87:362-371.
Flous, F. and H. Gaussen. 1932. Une Nouvelle Espèce de Sapin Mexicain. Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Toulouse 44(2):24. Available: Gallica, accessed 2025.01.17.
Martínez, M. 1942. Tres especies nuevas méxicanas del género Abies. Anales Inst. Biol. Univ. Nac. México 13(2):621-634. Available: UNAM, accessed 2024.01.19.
Martínez, M. 1949. Los Abies Mexicanos. Anales Inst. Biol. Univ. Nac. México 19:39. Available: UNAM, accessed 2024.01.19.
Naylor, T.H. 1971. Dendrochronology in Oaxaca, Mexico: a preliminary study. Tree-Ring Bulletin 31:25-29.
Silba, John. 1990. A supplement to the international census of the Coniferae, II. Phytologia 68(1):13. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2025.01.17.
Strandby, U., K.I. Christensen, and M. Sørensen. 2009. A morphometric study of the Abies religiosa–hickelii–guatemalensis complex (Pinaceae) in Guatemala and Mexico. Plant Systematics and Evolution 280:59-76.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
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.
Last Modified 2025-01-21
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